Europe is preparing to be vaccinated with a Russian drug
Despite the fact that the Russian anti-Covid vaccine Sputnik V is not included in the European vaccination strategy, EU countries can negotiate directly with the developers.
Izvestia writes about this, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
It is noted that the EU has a unified strategy, according to which only after the approval procedure at the level of the European Medicines Agency (EMA) can the drug enter the EU vaccine portfolio. At the same time, as the publication was told, despite the fact that Sputnik V is not part of the European vaccination strategy, EU members can negotiate directly with the developers.
In addition, EC representative Eric Mummer recalled that when the European Commission entered into negotiations on the signing of preliminary procurement agreements, it negotiated with companies, not governments.
In addition, the credibility of the Russian drug was added to the findings in The Lancet magazine, which confirmed the high effectiveness and safety of Sputnik V.
“The results, reported in The Lancet, are promising despite being an interim analysis. The effectiveness of Sputnik V is higher compared to other drugs that use viral vectors (British AstraZeneca). I think that Sputnik V can receive EMA approval and become part of the European portfolio,” says Antonio Clavenna, an Italian epidemiologist at the Mario Negri Institute for Pharmacological Research.
Giovanni Maga, director of the Italian Institute of Molecular Genetics and head of the department of virology, agrees with his colleague, saying that now another vaccine could potentially be included in the European vaccination program.
“The results of the Sputnik V vaccine study published in The Lancet are promising news. We, in turn, continue to hold discussions with all countries and manufacturers at the highest level,” the WHO Regional Office for Europe said in turn.
It is noteworthy that at the moment the decision to purchase Sputnik V, bypassing bureaucratic procedures, was made by Hungary.
Read on topic: Russian vaccine receives an international sign quality.
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