BERLIN, APRIL 08
Germany's health minister says the European Union won't order Russia's Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine and his country will hold bilateral talks with Russia on whether an order makes sense.
Health Minister Jens Spahn told WDR public radio that the EU's executive Commission said Wednesday it won't place orders for Sputnik V on member countries' behalf, as it did with other manufacturers.
Spahn said Thursday he told his fellow EU health ministers that Germany "will talk bilaterally to Russia, first of all about when what quantities could come." He said "to really make a difference in our current situation, the deliveries would have to come in the next two to four or five months already."
Otherwise, he said, Germany would have "more than enough vaccine" already.
Spahn reiterated that, as far as Germany is concerned, Sputnik V must be cleared for use by the European Medicines Agency, and "for that, Russia must deliver data."
On Wednesday, Bavaria's governor said his administration was signing a preliminary contract to get 2.5 million doses of Sputnik V, probably in July, if the shot is cleared by the EMA.
