BERLIN, March 17. /TASS/. Issues of authorizing the use of anti-coronavirus vaccines in Germany, including Russia’s Sputnik V, must be handled outside of the ideological context, President of the Berlin Red Cross Mario Czaja said.
"We need even more effort, aimed at preparing all scientifically proven vaccines for prompt certification, without the ideological context," the Tagesspiegel newspaper quoted him as saying.
Earlier, the German government expressed its readiness in principle to use vaccines developed outside the European Union. Also, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Health Minister Jens Spahn named the key requirement for authorizing the use of a vaccine on the country’s territory: it should be certified by the European Medicines Agency.
On March 4, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) reported that the rolling review of the Russian jab had begun. The EU regulator stressed that specialists would check that the vaccine is up to par with EU standards of efficacy, safety and quality. Sputnik V ranks among the top three vaccines globally in the number of national use authorizations. Currently, the Russian shot has been registered in more than 50 countries around the world with the total population of over 1.3 billion people.