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Coronavirus pandemic

Sputnik V successfully passes all laboratory trials in Slovakia, Deputy PM says

One tenth of Slovakia’s population want to be inoculated only with Sputnik V, Igor Matovic added

PRAGUE, April 15. /TASS/. The Russian Sputnik V vaccine against the coronavirus infection which arrived in Slovakia on March 1 has successfully passed all laboratory tests at the Biomedical Research Center of the Slovak Academy of Sciences, Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister of the republic Igor Matovic said on Thursday. His statement was aired by the Slovak Radio.

"Sputnik V has successfully passed all 14 trials out of 14 at the Biomedical Center of the Slovak Academy of Sciences," he noted. "We could be getting inoculated with this vaccine already now had it not been for the politicized stance of the State Institute for Drug Control [which serves as a pharmaceutic regulator in the country and which questioned the reliability] of the preparation which is very much in demand worldwide. One tenth of Slovakia’s population [of 5 mln] want to be inoculated only with Sputnik V," he added.

Meanwhile, Slovak Prime Minister Eduard Heger stated earlier on Thursday that vaccination with Sputnik V will begin in his country in early May. This will happen after a positive result of the preparation’s trials is obtained at a specialized laboratory included in the European Official Medicines Control Laboratories network. Slovakia sent samples of the Russian vaccine to Hungary for testing.

The purchase of Sputnik V which hasn’t been certified in the EU caused a government crisis in Slovakia. As a result, Igor Matovic, the leader of the largest party in the government coalition who initiated the purchase, two weeks ago had to trade his prime minister’s office for a post of a deputy prime minister.

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