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Coronavirus pandemic

Another visit of WHO experts for assessment of Sputnik V production planned in February

Director of WHO Regulation and Prequalification Department Rogerio Gaspar noted generally high satisfaction with interaction with the Russian side within the framework of the prequalification procedure of the Sputnik V vaccine

MOSCOW, January 27. /TASS/. Another visit of the experts of the World Health Organization (WHO) to Russia for the inspection of the production sites of the Sputnik V vaccine against coronavirus is expected in February, the press service of the Russian Health Ministry told reporters on Thursday following a meeting between Health Minister Mikhail Murashko and Director of WHO Regulation and Prequalification Department Rogerio Gaspar.

"Rogerio Gaspar noted generally high satisfaction with interaction with the Russian side within the framework of the prequalification procedure of the Sputnik V vaccine. The next visit of the WHO experts is planned for February," the statement said.

The sides also discussed joint steps on the accreditation and inclusion of Russian regulatory bodies - the Health Ministry, the Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Federal Service for Surveillance in Healthcare - among WHO-Listed Authorities (WLA), as well as the creation in Russia of a WHO training center on regulatory practices. "According to the WHO representative, Russia is among the first to enter the accreditation process for the inclusion in the WLA list because its regulatory system is sufficiently developed," the statement noted.

The regulators included in the WHO list are world’s leading agencies and perform their functions with the consideration of generally recognized international requirements to the reproducibility based on the appropriate regulatory practice of the WHO. The decisions become reference points for many foreign agencies. The accreditation on compliance with WHO requirements is a precondition for the deliveries of certain types of medical products to UN programs.

Russia’s regulatory system in the sphere of control over the circulation of vaccines and the safety of immunization was accredited for compliance with WHO requirements in 2016.

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