EU vaccine panic: Official urges member states NOT to authorise Russia's Covid jab

An official from the European Medicines Agency (EMA) on Sunday is trying to urge EU states to refrain from granting approval for Russia’s COVID-19 vaccine Sputnik V. The official suggests individual EU nations should hold back while the EMA reviews the safety and effectiveness of the Russian jab. Speaking to Austrian broadcaster ORF EMA managing board head Christa Wirthumer-Hoche said: “We need documents that we can review.

“We also don’t at the moment have data about vaccinated people.

“It is unknown.

“That’s why I would urgently advise against giving a national emergency authorisation.”

The official added: “We can have Sputnik V on the market here in the future when the appropriate data have been reviewed.

“The rolling review has begun now at the EMA.

“Data packages are coming from Russian manufacturers.

“They will be reviewed according to European standards for quality, safety and efficacy.

“When everything is proven then it will also be authorised in the European Union.”

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Regarding the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, Ms Wirthumer-Hoche said: “We expect a positive assessment of the vaccine.

“We believe the European Commission will quickly grant authorisation.”

The news comes after a poll found as many as one in four EU citizens in key member states have said they would turn down the AstraZeneca vaccine.

A YouGov poll suggested criticism of the vaccine from such figures as France’s Emmanuel Macron has damaged public confidence in it.

Now more Europeans are saying they would “not take” the AstraZeneca vaccine versus the Pfitzer/BioNtech and Moderna alternatives.

The poll found 27 percent of Germans, 23 percent of Italians, 22 percent of the French, and 19 percent of Spaniards would refuse to take the vaccine, saying they would “wait until offered a different vaccine”.

source: express.co.uk