RIGA, March 5. / TASS /. The Latvian authorities will consider the purchase and use of the Russian Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine, if the European Medicines Agency (EMA) recommends this drug for approval in the European Union. This was announced on Friday by the Minister of Health of the Republic Daniels Pavluts.
“We will use every safe and scientifically grounded opportunity to protect the health and life of the inhabitants of Latvia,” the local agency LETA reported. The Ministry of Health of the Republic discussed the possibility of purchasing the drug "Sputnik V" and decided to include only the recommended EM vaccines in the Latvian portfolio of vaccines, he noted.
Pavluts also pointed out that the factor of vaccine availability at a specific time will be important when making decisions. "Now Latvia has already ordered vaccines from seven manufacturers, and the number of vaccine doses, which, presumably, will be available to Latvia starting from the middle of the year, is already very large," the politician explained.
EM said on Thursday that it has begun a sequential review process for the Sputnik V vaccine. The EU regulator said that during the examination, experts will assess the compliance of the drug with EU standards in the field of efficacy, safety and quality. According to the head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund Kirill Dmitriev, the approval of EM will allow providing EU residents with the Sputnik V vaccine from June 2021.
Earlier it was reported that a number of EU countries have already approved the use of the drug "Sputnik V" on an individual basis, without waiting for the pan-European registration of the drug by the EMA. The vaccine is currently registered in Hungary and Slovakia.
Sputnik V is one of the world's top three coronavirus vaccines in terms of the number of approvals received by government regulators. Sputnik V was registered by 45 countries with a total population of over 1.1 billion people.