'US declined Russia's help offer on vaccine'

Russia maintains its will to share information about coronavirus vaccine, say Russian officials

ANKARA:

The US allegedly declined Russia’s help offer over the coronavirus vaccine, Russian officials told CNN.

The officials, who spoke anonymously, said Thursday that they proposed “unprecedented cooperation” with the US' Operation Warp Speed, a governmental program that aims to begin delivering millions of doses of an effective virus vaccine by the end of 2020. However, they claimed the US “is not currently open” for cooperation.

The remarks came days after Russia announced Tuesday it had developed a coronavirus vaccine.

They added that Russia maintains its will to share information about the vaccine and allow the US pharmaceutical firms to develop it.

“There is a general sense of mistrust of Russia on the American side and we believe that technologies — including vaccine, testing and treatments — are not being adopted in the US because of that mistrust,” a senior Russian official said.

Speaking to CNN, American officials said the Russian vaccine “is not considered to be well-developed” by the US.