Ukraine Will Not Register Russia's Sputnik V 'Under Any Circumstance' - Health Minister

KIEV (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 05th March, 2021) Russia's Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine will not be approved for use in Ukraine no matter what, Health Minister Maxym Stepanov said on Friday.

In late January, the Ukrainian parliament passed the law which allows registration of vaccines provided the existence of successful preclinical trial data and clinical trials done with permission from corresponding agencies of several countries, including the United States, Japan, China and Israel, as well as the European Union. The law also states that a vaccine must not be developed in Russia. In February, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal signed a decree banning registration of Russian-produced vaccines in the country.

"I have said on multiple occasions, Sputnik V will not be registered in the country under any circumstance,"� Stepanov told the parliament.

In mid-December, Kiev reached an agreement with the Chinese company to receive 1.9 million doses of its vaccine as soon as possible. Sinovac said it filed a registration application in early February and is still waiting for the answer.

Ukraine has already received the first batch of 500,000 doses of the AstraZeneca/Oxford COVID-19 vaccine from India. The country is also set to receive 117,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine through the COVAX scheme, and another 2.2 million to 3.7 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine in the first quarter of the year.