THE PEN COVID. Emmanuel Macron accuses Marine Le Pen of having wanted to administer chloroquine and vaccinate the French with the Russian vaccine Spountnik V, the effectiveness of which has not been demonstrated. Here’s what you need to know…
[Mis à jour le 20 avril 2022, à 22h13] Marine Le Pen and Emmanuel Macron clashed this Wednesday, April 20, 2022 on the management of the Covid crisis, the outgoing president reproaching the RN candidate for not having voted any text on health measures and urging him to say what she would have done in this time of crisis. Marine Le Pen retorted that the measures taken were most costly and most ineffective.
In this great debate between the two presidential rounds, Emmanuel Macron took the opportunity to recall the words of Marine Le Pen on the Russian vaccine Sputnik. For several days, the president-candidate, but also the Minister of Health Olivier Véran, have accused Marine Le Pen and his team of having loudly demanded the adoption by France of the Russian vaccine Sputnik V, whose effectiveness has not yet been proven. Marine Le Pen’s opponents also believe that she gave in, in her time, to the mirage of chloroquine. Emmanuel Macron thus accused his rival this week of having wanted to “treat people with chloroquine” and “vaccinate with a Russian vaccine”, without following the validation procedures of the French and European health authorities.
Accusations heard in particular during the trip of the president-candidate to Mulhouse: “Choosing someone to preside over a country is obviously choosing a political leader to implement a program, with a mandate. But it is also to preside during crises I don’t forget what Madame Le Pen also said constantly during the Covid crisis: She was going to treat people with chloroquine, she was going to vaccinate massively with a Russian vaccine, of which even the World Health Organization declared that it was not effective”.
“The effectiveness of the Russian vaccine Sputnik V is no longer in doubt”
What Marine Le Pen said: the RN candidate indeed spoke out in favor of chloroquine in March 2020, deeming it necessary, on France Info, that city doctors be able to prescribe Professor Raoult’s treatment for “mild” symptoms of the coronavirus in order to avoid saturation of intensive care units. “I think that we must immediately give the possibility to all city doctors, who know what they are doing and know the possible side effects of this drug, the ability to prescribe it to those who are infected with symptoms not serious, “said the head of the RN on public radio. On Europe 1 at the same time, she nevertheless held more measured words, believing that “hope should not push people to take risks”.
Regarding the Russian vaccine Sputnik V, Marine Le Pen spoke out in February 2021, when studies reported high effectiveness against the coronavirus (around 91% according to the journal The Lancet). In a tweet in particular, she indicated that “the effectiveness of the Russian vaccine Sputnik V is no longer in doubt” and that it could “be a reinforcement against the pandemic”. “Let’s work on good terms with Russia and don’t let the anti-Russian ideology ruin our ability to vaccinate our compatriots!”, She added.
Now that the effectiveness of the Russian vaccine #SputnikV there is no longer any doubt, it can be a reinforcement against the pandemic.
Let’s work in harmony with the #Russia and let’s not let the anti-Russian ideology ruin our ability to vaccinate our compatriots! MLP
– Marine Le Pen (@MLP_officiel) February 2, 2021
Unrecognized chloroquine and Russian vaccine
What there is to know : treatment with chloroquine or hydroxychloroquine was considered ineffective by several studies as early as spring 2020, starting with the British study known as RECOVERY which concluded that the remedy had “no beneficial effect on patients hospitalized for Covid -19” and that “there is no evidence of beneficial effects on length of hospital stay or other outcomes”. After the WHO, the National Agency for the Safety of Medicines and Health Products (ANSM) had suspended trials on chloroquine and Professor Raoult’s method from May 2020.
Regarding the Sputnik V vaccine, its approval has still not been pronounced after months of study by the European Medicines Agency (EMA). It may never intervene, Russia not having provided all the necessary data and the war in Ukraine having now stopped all cooperation. Some European countries, such as Hungary, Austria, the Czech Republic or Slovakia have decided to acquire the vaccine without waiting for the European green light. During a debate with the Minister of Health Olivier Véran on LCI this week, Jordan Bardella, spokesperson for Marine Le Pen, estimated that the National Rally had above all spoken out for the freedom to prescribe doctors during the crisis. sanitary.