BERLIN, March 20. /TASS/. German Chancellor Angela Merkel said she does not rule out the possibility of purchasing Russia’s Sputnik V anti-coronavirus vaccine at the national level if the European Union fails to make a common decision on this issue.
"As far as the Russian vaccine is concerned, I share the opinion that we should use any vaccine approved by the European Medicines Agency. But I would rather prefer European purchases. If there are no European purchases and no signs indicating their possibility, we will have to take the German path alone," she told reporters on Friday after a meeting with heads of German regions to discuss anti-coronavirus vaccination in the country. "This is possible, and this is what we will do."
Also, the German chancellor said she would like to be vaccinated with the product of UK-Swedish company AstraZeneca, despite controversial information about its possible negative effects.
Merkel confirmed that the German authorities were committed to launching a large-scale anti-coronavirus vaccination campaign this summer.
"I think that we have very good chances of fulfilling our promise to give every citizen an opportunity of becoming vaccinated [against COVID-19] by the end of this summer," she said, adding that a lot depends on how many doses of vaccines will be supplied to the country.
Earlier, the German government expressed its readiness in principle to use vaccines developed outside the European Union. Heads of several German regions, including Bavaria, Berlin, Brandenburg, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Thuringia, urged to leave aside political and ideological considerations about the use of foreign vaccines, including Russia’s Sputnik V.
The European Medicines Agency said on March 4 it had begun Sputnik V evaluation procedures to look at its compliance with the EU efficacy, safety and quality standards.
Russia’s Sputnik V is ranked among the world’s top three most popular coronavirus vaccines. By today, it has been registered for use in 50 countries worldwide with an overall population of more than 1.3 billion.