PARIS, May 4. /TASS/. Augustin de Romanet, chief executive officer of Groupe ADP, which owns and manages the airports of Paris, has admitted that he would be upset if the Russian Sputnik V vaccine against the coronavirus infection is not ranked alongside jabs approved in the EU when authorities introduce sanitary certificates for foreign travel.
"This is a highly politicized issue. As a citizen, I would be disappointed if Sputnik V which is being used in Hungary, wouldn’t be recognized. However, this is already above my level," he stated in response to a question from the host of the France Info radio network as to whether the EU sanitary certificate being put together should include information on inoculation with any vaccine worldwide or only with those approved in the EU. During the program, the host noted a "problem" since many countries "particularly, Eastern ones" use vaccines not approved in the EU.
The official asserted that the introduction of such certificates is simply inevitable and expressed satisfaction that the EU wants to harmonize efforts in this direction. "I proceed from common sense and simply want to restore air service as soon as possible," he said. "Air traffic will be recovering for a rather long time. I think that we will reach the 2019 level during the period of 2024 to 2027," he added.
The draft of the EU’s green digital certificate involves developing a single digital document in the EU which will consolidate all information on a citizens’ immunity, including any information on the date and type of the jab used or on PCR-tests or dates of the COVID-19 infection. Technical details of this document and its application are still at a stage of coordination with no final decisions made, however, it is clear that this certificate will allow those who had been inoculated to travel abroad with the least number of sanitary restrictions.
At the end of April, Russian Health Minister Mikhail Murashko said that experts of the European Medicines Agency (EMA) concluded the first stage of Sputnik V’s evaluation in Russia and were preparing to inspect production sites. The beginning of the next stage of evaluation by the WHO and EMA is expected on May 10.