VIENNA, March 23. /TASS/. Moscow and Vienna are in talks on possible supplies of the Russian Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine and on its production in Austria, Russian Ambassador to that country Dmitry Lyubinsky said on Tuesday.
"Moscow and Vienna, especially in the recent period, have been maintaining intense dialogue on issues of combating Covid-19, including possible supplies and production of the effective Russian vaccine Sputnik V in Austria. And I am absolutely sure we can count on the desired result to everyone’s benefit," he told an online roundtable meeting organized by the Russian-Austrian Sochi Dialogue public forum.
Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz earlier called on the European Medicines Agency (EMA) to waste no time to certify the Russian Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine. The more vaccines are available the better, he stressed.
He said in early March that Austria was in talks with Russia on possible purchases of the Sputnik V vaccine when it is certified by EMA and on possible cooperation in the vaccine’s production. The Austrian government told TASS it was looking at Russia’s proposal to manufacture Sputnik V by Austrian companies. Meanwhile, the country’s health ministry said it was not planning to certify the Russian vaccine in bypassing the European regulator.