Germany officials have praised the Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine and assured that it may be approved later in the future.
This comes as Italy makes move to become the first European country to produce the vaccine later in the year.
The head of Germany’s standing commission on vaccination, Thomas Mertens, described Sputnik V in an interview on Wednesday as “a good vaccine that will presumably also be approved in the EU at some point”.
“Russian scientists are very experienced in vaccines. Sputnik V is a very clever construct,” he said.
Russia was criticisied last year when it approved Sputnik V for widespread use after less than two months of human testing, amid fears that the Kremlin was hoping to leverage the vaccine as a soft-power tool.
The Russian vaccine is being assessed by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) but has already been ordered or put to use in some EU countries in Eastern Europe.
From July, the Russian vaccine could also be produced inside the European Union, after a deal was struck between Adienne, an Italian-Swiss pharmaceutical company, and the Russian Direct Investment Fund.
Should Italian regulators give approval for production, it could begin at the company’s factory in Caponago, near Milan, in July, with 10m Sputnik doses expected to be produced for export to non-EU countries by the end of the year.
Vincenzo Trani, the president of the Italian-Russian Chamber of Commerce, which helped bring the deal together, hailed the move as “historic” and said it would help create jobs in Italy. He added that the agreement reflected “the healthy state of relations between our two countries and underscores how Italian companies can see beyond political differences”.
The Italian government was reportedly not made aware of the deal, although the ministry of economic development said it was a “legitimate operation”. Attilio Fontana, the president of the Lombardy region, described the agreement as good news.
Sputnik will not be made available for use in Italy unless it is given approval by both the EMA and the Italian pharmaceutical authority, Aifa.
Leading politicians, as well as several medical experts, have called for Sputnik to be approved for use in the country, where the vaccination programme has been hampered by late deliveries of other jabs.
