RIGA, March 5. / TASS /. The mayor of the Latvian city of Rezekne, located in the Latgale region bordering the Russian Federation, Alexander Bartashevich, on Friday appealed to the Minister of Health of the Republic, Daniels Pavlyuts, with an appeal not to politicize the vaccination process and to allow the country's residents to be vaccinated with the Russian Sputnik V coronavirus drug. This was announced by the Social Democratic Party "Consent", representing the interests of Russian-speaking residents of Latvia, represented by Bartashevich.
“Today, on behalf of the Rezekne City Council, I sent a letter to the Minister of Health Daniels Pavluts, in which I urged to start distributing the Sputnik V vaccine in Latvia as soon as possible, as soon as the European Medicines Agency (EMA) allows it. that many refuse to vaccinate under the pretext that they would be ready to do so only if they were provided with the Sputnik V vaccine, - said the Mayor of Rezekne.
“In my opinion, the politicization of the vaccination process is currently unacceptable, and public health is a top priority, so the use of Sputnik V is a logical step in increasing the growth of vaccination and achieving a positive result in the fight against COVID-19. vaccinations are at a very unsatisfactory level, "Bartashevich said.
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.
Earlier it was reported that individual EU states have already approved the use of "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.