BRUSSELS, March 15. /TASS/: No talks are underway between the European Commission and Russian coronavirus vaccine producers, the commission’s Spokesperson Stefan de Keersmaecker told reporters on Monday.
"No talks are ongoing between an EU team and the Russian vaccine producer," he said in response to a question. "The member states and the commission may decide at any time together to expand the existing vaccine portfolio," the European Commission spokesperson pointed out.
Reuters reported earlier, citing an EU official, that "EU governments were considering launching talks with Sputnik V developers and it would take requests from four EU states to start the process." "Hungary and Slovakia have already bought the Russian shot, the Czech Republic is interested, and the EU official said Italy was considering using the country’s biggest vaccine-producing bioreactor at a ReiThera plant near Rome to make Sputnik V," Reuters added.
On March 4, the European Medicines Agency announced the start of a rolling review of Sputnik V, aimed at assessing its "compliance with the usual EU standards for effectiveness, safety and quality."
Sputnik V has so far been approved in 50 countries with a total population of over 1.3 bln.
