PARIS, March 22. /TASS/. Leader of France’s National Rally party Marine Le Pen called on the French authorities to start using Russian and Chinese vaccines against coronavirus.
"We could order the Russian Sputnik V vaccine or the Chinese vaccine right now, without waiting for the decision of the European Union," she told a press conference on Monday.
According to her estimates, inadequate vaccination rates are slowing down the recovery from the crisis.
"With such a pace, we will not be able to achieve collective immunity either in spring, or in summer, or even in autumn," the politician said.
"We need to gain momentum in order to return to normal life as soon as possible. It would also help the economy recover faster," Le Pen added.
Under the agreement signed between the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) and the Swiss-Italian company Adienne Pharma & Biotech (Lugano) Sputnik V vaccine will be produced at the company's plant in northern Italy.
The use of the Russian vaccine in the EU is possible only after its approval by the European Medicines Agency (EMA). However, the approval of the European regulator is not required for the vaccine production in the EU for export to countries where the vaccine is used. There are more than 40 of them, including Hungary and Slovakia, which approved the drug unilaterally.
Last week, Secretary of State for European affairs in the French government Clement Beaune said that France would be ready to use the Sputnik V vaccine if it receives the approval from the EMA, and its production meets the required quality standards.
Beaune recalled that along with the possibility of using the Russian vaccine, France also has real solutions - such as the Pfizer vaccine, France has already signed additional contracts for.