Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz told Vienna media April 10 that Negotiations on the contract for Austria to acquire Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine have “de facto come to an end” and Austria will soon be purchasing a million doses of the vaccine, both Reuters and RT reported April 10.
The Austrian Chancellor told the press that Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine would provide an “additional turbo boost” to Austria’s immunization campaign, without specifying when those supplies might begin. Sputnik V is reported to have an efficacy of more than 91%, and lacks serious side effects, RT reports.
Austria has a population of almost 9 million, and has recorded more than 570,000 confirmed COVID-19 cases and over 9,600 deaths since the start of the pandemic.
Kurz also promised to ask the European Union why the bloc was unable to be as fast and efficient as the United States and U.K. He said Austria “can return to normal’ in summer, as Sputnik V can speed up the program if Vienna buys it. The article notes that the European Medicines Agency (EMA) seems to “be in no hurry” to register Sputnik V, despite all the paperwork being provided earlier this year. EU law allows member states the emergency use of vaccines even if they have not been approved by the EMA; a clause which Hungary and Slovakia have already utilized, and started giving Sputnik V vaccine to their citizens. Austria may soon follow.
