European Union is struggling to speed up its coronavirus vaccine rollout in the 27-member bloc; Russia’s Covid vaccine is succeeding over its Eastern European friends, leading to another possible region divide.
The Czech Republic, Austria, Hungary, and Slovakia all have shown interest in obtaining and deploying Russia’sSputnik V’ vaccine. This action could weaken an EU-wide strategy for approval and administration of coronavirus vaccines.
On Sunday, Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis said that his country could use the Sputnik V vaccine even without permission from the European medicines agency, the European Medicines Agency.
It comes after Russian President Vladimir Putin and Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz had a telephone call last Friday. They considered “the possible supply of Russian vaccine Sputnik V to Austria, as well as its potential joint production. “the Kremlin said, noting that Austria had appealed. Nevertheless, Austria has so far shown that it will not bypass the EMA in terms of vaccine approval.
Hungary, an EU country with tense relations with Brussels and whose leader, Viktor Orban, is considered a close ally of Putin, has not conferred such hesitation. It became the first European country to authorize in January – bypassing the EMA – and obtain the Sputnik V vaccine.
According to the Moscow Times, the country assumes 2 million doses of the Sputnik V vaccine to be delivered over the next three months. Hungary also supported China’s Sinopharm vaccine last month, again going against the EU vaccine approval grain.
On Monday, Slovakia became the second European country to declare that it had acquired the Sputnik V vaccine, thus obtaining 2 million doses of the vaccine. Slovakia’s health minister, however, said it would not be applied immediately, as it still needed the green light from the country’s national drug regulator.
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