Charles Michel also announced Europe’s aspiration to become the largest vaccine manufacturer in the world.
According to TASS, President of the European Council Charles Michel admitted that there are disagreements in the EU over the possible supply of the Russian drug for the Sputnik V coronavirus, and announced Europe’s aspiration to become the largest vaccine manufacturer in the world.
“The pressure on politicians is great. People are getting impatient, they want to get vaccinated”, – he said in an interview with the Handelsblatt newspaper on Saturday.
“So governments want to do everything they can. There are disagreements and varying degrees of sensitivity on the issue of Sputnik V among the EU member states”.
According to Michel, the solution can be found in increasing vaccine production in the EU and fast deliveries.
“So far, 112 million doses have been delivered and more shipments will arrive in the coming weeks. If we accelerate production even further in the coming weeks, then Europe will become the leading, perhaps even the largest, vaccine producer in the world”.
On Thursday, German Health Minister Jens Spahn said that Germany will hold bilateral negotiations with the Russian side on the possible supply of Sputnik V in case the vaccine is admitted to the EU, since the European Commission, for its part, does not want to conclude preliminary agreements with the manufacturer of the drug.