The approval of the Russian Sputnik V vaccine at the national level would not speed up its use in Austria, the decision of the European regulator EMA is needed, Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg told RIA Novosti.
“We decided not to make a decision at the national level, because even if we did, it would not progress, it would not lead to anything – we would need all the same information that the EMA does not have now”, – Schallenberg said. on the sidelines of the meeting of the international coalition in Rome to combat IS*.
“But I believe that sooner or later we will have to accept the fact that people in different countries have different vaccines, and if we want to restore freedom of movement of people, then my approach is not the government’s position yet, but we are working on it – is that anyone who is vaccinated or has antibodies should receive freedom of movement”, – added the Austrian minister.
Sputnik V is approved in 68 countries with a total population of over 3.4 billion people. Sputnik V ranks second in the world in terms of the number of approvals received by government regulators. The effectiveness of the vaccine was 97.6% based on the analysis of data on 3.8 million vaccinated Russians, which is higher than the data previously published by the medical journal The Lancet (91.6%), the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) and the Gamaleya Research Center reported earlier.
* – Terrorist organization banned in Russia