Hospital head alleges political meddling holding up approval of Russian vaccine

Hadassah hospital head Zeev Rotstein is telling a Knesset panel that approval of a vaccine from Russia is being held up for “political reasons,” and due to anti-Russian sentiment.

Rotstein tells the State Control Committee that the Russian virus is just as effective as vaccines produced by Western firms.

“It’s already been given to 40,000 people with no immediate side effects. Yet there’s still no approval from the Health Ministry. I haven’t gotten any answer. It’s possible that the reason is political and the location of production is holding up the approvals,” says Rotstein, who has championed the Russian vaccine, known as Sputnik V.

Israel’s Health Minister is Yuli Edelstein, a Ukraine-born refusenik who spent three years in a Soviet gulag before moving to Israel, though it’s unlikely that history has weighed on any regulatory decisions.

Rather, Russia has been criticized for rushing the vaccine to the public before it was fully tested and for not being transparent about trial results. Some have suggested researchers might be cutting corners amid pressure from authorities to deliver.

Rotstein has already ordered 1.5 million doses of the drug, and has looked to position Israel as a regional distribution hub.

He also refers to a report that because the vaccines are not approved, Israel may sell them to the UAE, which would then donate them to the Palestinians.

“It’s funny that in the end it will go to the PA and those within the [Green] Line won’t get the vaccine,” he says, according to a Knesset statement.