Alexander Gintsburg, the head of Russia’s vaccine-development agency, has claimed that Western research institutions are aiming to poach the country’s scientists to work for them.

“Our researchers have been working at the Gamaleya Institute for ten years. … Any American or European university can only dream of having such researchers. And they are seeking to lure them away, but they won’t be able to,” he told the Rossiya-1 television channel over the weekend, according to Russian news agency TASS.

Gintsburg is the chief of the Gamaleya National Research Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology, which last week announced that its vaccine, named “Sputnik V,” had been green-lighted by the nation’s health regulators—making it the world’s first coronavirus vaccine to be approved.

However, as the vaccine had only undergone rapid phase one and two clinical trials on a limited number of individuals, medical experts around the world, including White House coronavirus advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci, have voiced their concerns regarding its safety and efficacy.

Phase three trials, which Russia expects to start later this month, are considered by many medical experts to be critical for any vaccine development, as they have the ability to root out any potentially dangerous side effects. Such trials often involve thousands of participants.

Large-scale production of Russia’s vaccine, perhaps up to five million doses a month, is slated to begin in September, with mass vaccinations starting in October.

Russia has largely rejected the West’s doubts and criticism, and Gintsburg went on to say that the negative reaction was predictable.

“I would call it a natural negative reaction of Western companies to the emergence of a Russian production they did not expect,” he said.

“So, I think we should ignore these negative things that are being poured on us.”

Soon after the vaccine was approved, Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed that it “works quite effectively” and even stated that one of his daughters had already been given the shot.

Dr. Francis Collins, the director of the National Institutes of Health, said recently that Russia’s vaccine did not even make an effort to meet the “fundamental parts” of the scientific approval process.

“I think virtually every vaccine expert in the world looking at this has been quite concerned whether this was a wise decision,” Collins said during a conference call with reporters. “Some have called this Russian roulette.”

Russia has the fourth-highest number of COVID-19 cases in the world, with more than 930,000 cases and 15,800 related deaths, according to the latest data from Johns Hopkins University.

Globally, there are more than 21.9 million confirmed cases and at least 775,000 deaths.

Ethen Kim Lieser is a Minneapolis-based Science and Tech Editor who has held posts at Google, The Korea Herald, Lincoln Journal Star, AsianWeek and Arirang TV. Follow or contact him on LinkedIn.

Image: Reuters.