GENEVA, February 4. /TASS/. The World Health Organization (WHO) doesn’t rule out that more data on the Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine could be requested from Russia as part of the Emergency Use Listing (EUL) procedure, the WHO press service told TASS on Friday.
When asked by TASS whether the organization has received the data on Sputnik V expected to be submitted by the end of January 2022, the press service said, "The submission of the data took place between the end of December 2021 and 31st January 2022. Additional data may be requested as part of the assessment process."
The WHO refrained from giving a direct answer to the question about the possibility of a WHO inspection within the EUL procedure in February. "Once the EUL application and corresponding CAPA (corrective and preventive actions) responses to the inspections conducted have been received and reviewed, a decision on the need to perform an onsite verification inspection will be communicated to the applicant," it explained.
"While the process is ongoing, the details must remain confidential. A recommendation will be made public as soon as the full process is finalized," the press service added.
In 2021, the WHO inspected four Sputnik V production sites as part of the assessment process and issued recommendations concerning one of them.
In an interview with TASS on February 1, WHO Regional Director for Europe Hans Kluge said that a Sputnik V inspection could be organized this month. "In February, there will be the next inspection visit," he said.