Russia condemned for reportedly attempting to undermine vaccine

Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab has condemned a reported Russian disinformation campaign to undermine confidence in a British coronavirus vaccine as “utterly deplorable”.

Pictures, memes and video clips designed to induce fear about the vaccine being developed by Oxford University have been created in Russia with a view to spreading them round the world via social media, according to the Times.

The crude imagery suggests the vaccine could turn people into monkeys as it uses a chimpanzee virus as a vector, although this is a common practice in vaccine development.

The paper said the campaign is being targeted at countries where Russia wants to sell its own Sputnik V vaccine, as well as at Western nations.

Mr Raab told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme: “It’s a shabby piece of disinformation but it is very serious because it is an attempt to disrupt attempts to find a safe vaccine.

“We know Russia has a track record of using disinformation as a foreign policy tool, but actually any attempt to spread lies about Covid-19 and the vaccine in particular when we’re trying to come together as an international community to resolve a global pandemic is utterly deplorable.”

Pascal So riot, chief executive of AstraZeneca, the pharmaceutical giant that plans to mass-produce the Oxford vaccine if cleared for public use, said it is important the public is not deceived by such actions.

“Misinformation is a clear risk to public health. I urge everyone to use reliable sources of information, to trust regulatory agencies and to remember the enormous benefit vaccines and medicines continue to bring to humanity.”