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Saturday, 06 March 2021_A French cabinet minister has censured the European Union (EU) member states for showing interest in the Russian and Chinese COVID-19 vaccines instead of the ones developed by the US and the UK.
Speaking to French radio RTL on Friday, France’s European Affairs Minister Clement Beaune called on fellow member states not to use Russia’s Sputnik V and China’s Sinopharm vaccines unless they are approved by the bloc’s medicines regulator, warning of a risk to the bloc’s unity and public health.
“If they were to choose the Chinese and/or Russian vaccine, I think it would be quite serious,” Beaune said, adding, “It would pose a problem in terms of our solidarity, and it would pose a health risk problem, because the Russian vaccine is not yet authorized in Europe.”
Europe’s medicines regulator (EMA) announced a day earlier that it had started a rolling review of the Sputnik V vaccine, however, EU officials insisted that the approval by the EMA would not necessarily mean that the Russian jab, with an efficacy rate of over 91 percent, would be included in the bloc’s portfolio.
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