A German state president has called for the rollout of the Russian Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine despite lack of European approval.
Reiner Haseloff, 67, Minister President of Saxony-Anhalt, said they should be allowed access to the Russian vaccine, stating that the government must do “everything possible to accelerate vaccination in Germany”.
Haseloff, member of the Christian Democratic Union of Germany (CDU), added that former East Germany already has some experience with Russian vaccines: “We have no problem with Sputnik V. I was successfully vaccinated against polio as a child with a Russian jab. I would happily be vaccinated with Sputnik V any time.”
However, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) has not approved the Russian COVID-19 vaccine yet after Russia approved its use last summer despite alleged background data deficiency.
Data on the vaccine’s effectiveness was published in The Lancet, a weekly peer-reviewed medical journal, in February.
According to Russian sources, Sputnik V is approved in over 30 countries.
Haseloff said before the country’s COVID-19 summit on Wednesday that he wants to negotiate the easing of measures if the infection rate decreases to fewer than 50 cases per 100,000 inhabitants per week.
With an average of 94 cases, Saxony-Anhalt, the eighth largest German state by area, is currently one of the most severely affected states in the country.
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Story By: Georgina Jadikovska, Sub-Editor: Joana Mihajlovska, Agency: Newsflash
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