European Commission Not Ruling Out Signing Contract For Russia's Sputnik V Vaccine

BRUSSELS (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 04th March, 2021) The European Commission is not ruling out the possibility to include Russia's Sputnik V vaccine to its� orders portfolio, spokesman Stefan De Keersmaecker said on Thursday.

Earlier in the day, the European Medicines Agency announced it was staring the rolling review to test the Russian vaccine for compliance with EU effectiveness, safety and quality standards. However, De Keersmaecker stressed that the rolling review was an independent process, with no direct links to the portfolio.

"No talks are ongoing between the negotiation team and producer institute or companies and organizations behind the Sputnik vaccine ... Commission and its member states may at any time decide, if they think there is a need to do so, to further develop or further diversify the current vaccine portfolio," De Keersmaeckeer said at a briefing.

European Commission Spokesman Eric Mamer specified that compliance with all the standards did not guarantee vaccine addition to the EU portfolio.

"The budget, our capacities and other issues matter as well ... If the vaccine is approved by the regulator this is not a guarantee that the EU will engage in negotiations on centralized purchase of the vaccine," Mamer explained.

The European Commission has so far signed contracts for over 2.3 billion doses of coronavirus vaccines. It is expected that around 70% of the EU residents will be inoculated by the mid-fall.