EU's Borrell call for Sputnik V vaccine to be approved
EU’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said on Friday that the Russain state-developed Covid-19 jab called Sputnik V should be approved by the bloc.
Borrell, who was the first senior EU official visiting Moscow since 2017, said confirmation of the high efficacy of Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine was "good for all mankind, it means we will have more tools to fight the pandemic."
"I hope that now the European Medicines Agency will be able to certify this vaccine for use in the EU member states," he told reporters.
"This will be good news for us, because, as you know, we do not have enough vaccines and an additional source of their supply is only welcome. Congratulations again on the success of Russian scientists."
The European Commission is under strain due to its problems securing sufficient jabs to distribute and was recently embroiled in a dispute with AstraZeneca after the drug giant unexpectedly announced that it would ship fewer than expected vaccines to the bloc.
Sputnik V was found to have an efficacy of 91.6%.
Hungary is the only EU country that has approved the vaccine so far and only on an emergency use basis.
Borrell was visiting Moscow just two days after Russian activist Alexei Navalny was sentenced to a more than two year prison sentence, amid protests by his supporters which resulted in a crackdown by police.
The EU's diplomatic chief had asked the Kremlin for Navalny's release and a full investigation into his attempted assassination last August.