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Coronavirus pandemic

IFRC expects to foster global recognition of Russian Sputnik V jab - president

Francesco Rocca also stated that the IFRC’s request to provide Sputnik V for using in the countries with limited access to vaccines was still being considered

MOSCOW, December 7. / TASS /. The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) expects that the organization’s work will accelerate the recognition of the Russian Sputnik V jab, President of the IFRC Francesco Rocca told TASS.

"[There are] more than 50 countries <…> that are using Sputnik V and have recognized [it]. What we are missing at the moment is the WHO’s recognition, which is also about the possibility to travel for those vaccinated with Sputnik V not being recognized by other countries. So, we do hope that with the work that we will do we can also facilitate and speed up this process," the head of the IFRC said.

At the same time, Rocca emphasized that the IFRC was concerned over the slow pace of the process of vaccine approval and expressed hope that they would be examined by the WHO experts. "The more vaccines are available, the better is for our work," the IFRC head noted.

Rocca also stated that the IFRC’s request to provide Sputnik V for using in the countries with limited access to vaccines was still being considered.

"This is what we do not know. This is the evaluation of different authorities that are working on. But you know, being aware that President Putin is on it for us is an important sign of encouragement of speeding up the process of this access to the Sputnik V vaccine," the IFRC head said.

Earlier, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova stated that the IFRC had sent an appeal to the Russian government, asking to provide the Sputnik V jab free of charge.

On December 5, during the talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin held via video linkup, Rocca expressed his hope for further cooperation with Russia on ensuring the fair distribution of Sputnik V in other countries and continents.

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