Blatný: No use of unapproved Sputnik V as long as I am minister

The minister of health, Jan Blatný, says that as long as he is in the post the Czech Republic will never use Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine, unless it has been approved by the European Union. Mr. Blatný made the comment in an interview for the news website iRozhlas. After discussing the Russian-made coronavirus vaccine in Hungary last week, the Czech prime minister, Andrej Babiš, hinted that the Prague government could purchase Sputnik V directly from Russia.

Minister Blatný said that he would not be in favour of vaccinating with anything that had not been approved by the European Medicines Agency.

On Wednesday PM Babiš is set to discuss vaccines in Serbia, which like Hungary is using Sputnik V. Before setting off he told reporters that the Czech Republic would not use a vaccine that was not EU-approved