Russia strongly trusts its COVID-19 developed vaccine and is ready to take legal liability if anything goes wrong, instead of needing buyers to bear full risks, said information provided by the head of the state fund bankrolling to Reuters.

 This move implies potentially pricey compensation claims upon unforeseen side-effects. Many vaccine developers have been wary to avoid it, by asking for full indemnity and full protection from liability claims to nations being sold to.

With the vaccine necessity heating globally and dozens of human tests underway, backers of Russia’s ‘Sputnik-V’ shot see liability as a key battleground as they focus on capturing market share.

“Russia is so confident in its vaccine that it has not asked for full indemnity and this is a major differentiating factor versus any Western vaccine,” said Kirill Dmitriev, head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF). This state sovereign wealth fund is backing the vaccine.

 In July, Reuters was informed by a senior executive that British drugmaker AstraZeneca’s created vaccine with Oxford University has been granted full protection from any future liability claims by many countries undersigned deals.

“We are confident in the long-term consequences,” Dmitriev said. “We are putting our money where our mouth is by not asking for full indemnity in partnerships we create in different countries.”

To date, deals have been declared for supplying above 200 million doses, half to Latin America and a half to India. The fund says it has orders for as much as 1 billion doses. There have not been signed contracts for vaccine supply by Bahia or Parana, a Brazilian state deciding to conduct trials of Sputnik-V on 10,000 volunteers.