Slovakia Won't Purchase Sputnik V for Now; Proposal Vetoed by For People

Bratislava, February 18 (TASR) – Slovakia won’t buy the Russian Sputnik V vaccine as the government didn’t approve a resolution on its purchase on Thursday because the draft was vetoed by the For the People party.

According to the proposed resolution, the use of Sputnik V should have been permitted after a positive assessment by the State Medicines Supervision Institute (SUKL) or after registration by the European Medicines Agency (EMA).

“I’m very sorry that the coalition partner today pulled out the strongest weapon and basically said that we won’t talk about Sputnik in Slovakia at all,” said Prime Minister Igor Matovic (OLaNO), adding that the resolution should have allowed Health Minister Marek Krajci (OLaNO) to procure the vaccine from the Russian Federation. “We had a preliminary promise that 80,000 of these vaccines will be delivered as early as the end of February,” said Krajci.

The premier went on to say that people in Slovakia are waiting to get inoculated, and a large number would like to be vaccinated only with Sputnik V.

Krajci and Matovic pointed out that the resolution was written in a friendly way, they sought a compromise. According to the proposal, Sputnik V could be used in Slovakia only after a positive assessment by SUKL or after registration by the European Medicines Agency. The minister noted that vaccination with Sputnik V would have been voluntary.