The discussion in Slovakia around the Sputnik V vaccine is not Russia’s business, if the republic does not need the vaccine, other countries will get more, said the press secretary of the Russian president Dmitry Peskov.
The Slovak State Institute for Drug Control on Thursday said that the manufacturer of Sputnik V did not provide the national regulator with evidence of the safety and efficacy of the drug, on the basis of which it can take an expert opinion on the quality of the vaccine. RDIF has asked the Slovak government to retest Sputnik V – this time in an EU-certified laboratory.
“As for the internal discussions that are taking place in Slovakia, this is not our business. If the vaccine is not needed in Slovakia, many and many countries that have active applications in this regard will be happy, as they say, other countries will get more. The situation is like this”, – Peskov told the reporters.
“You know, there is such an obscure story with a laboratory that draws some conclusions. This is one of the best vaccines in the world, one of the most reliable and one of the most highly effective vaccines in the world”, – Peskov emphasized.
The purchase of the Sputnik V vaccine in the Russian Federation in early March at the initiative of the then Prime Minister of Slovakia Igor Matovic and the head of the Ministry of Health Marek Krajča caused a scandal in the ranks of the ruling coalition, since neither his colleagues in the government, nor the President of the Republic Zuzana were notified of this Chaputov, who objected to the use of the vaccine without the approval of the European regulator. Earlier, the leaders of the coalition parties, who had great complaints about the activities of the prime minister and the head of the Ministry of Health, demanded their resignation, threatening to dissolve the coalition.
In this regard, the head of the Ministry of Health resigned in early March, and at the end of the month the Prime Minister followed his example. At the end of March, Chaputova accepted Matovich’s resignation and on April 1, approved the new composition of the government, headed by Prime Minister Eduard Heger. Matovich took the post of Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance in the Cabinet.
The Sputnik V vaccine has been approved in nearly 60 countries with a total population of over 1.5 billion. Sputnik V ranks second in the world in terms of the number of approvals received by government regulators. The vaccine efficacy at 91.6% is confirmed by the publication of data in the leading medical journal The Lancet.