WHO postpones inspection of Sputnik V recognition procedure until at least January 2022

Experts from the World Health Organization plan to come to Russia to evaluate the Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine no earlier than January 2022. About it writes RIA Novosti with reference to the WHO press service.

“WHO and RDIF met at the end of November to discuss the need for more data on the quality, safety and efficacy of the vaccine. The company has pledged to provide a detailed data submission roadmap so that WHO can expedite vaccine evaluation. Submission of data is expected by the end of December 2021. You cannot wait for an inspection before the data is presented and evaluated, ”the agency quoted the press service of the organization as saying.

On the eve of the head of the RDIF Kirill Dmitriev in a conversation with the publication La Nacion statedthat WHO is delaying approval of Sputnik V for “purely bureaucratic reasons.” He also noted that the organization has no reason not to recognize the Russian vaccine.

In October this year, the Minister of Health of the Russian Federation Mikhail Murashko reportedthat WHO has removed all barriers to the registration of Sputnik V. The head of the Ministry of Health added that the company that registers the vaccine at the WHO site “needs to sign a number of documents, submit a number of additional papers.”

A month earlier, WHO officials said they had suspended the approval process for the Russian vaccine, as an inspection at one of the factories discovered a violation of good manufacturing practices. The organization stressed that a new inspection should go through after WHO receives notification of the correction of violations.