EU regulator reviews Sputnik V Covid jab
MOSCOW: The European Medicines Agency (EMA) has started a rolling review of Russia’s Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine, it said on Thursday.
The European regulator said the review is based on results from lab studies and research in adults, which suggests the vaccine may help protect against the coronavirus.
Despite scepticism about Russia’s vaccine, according to a study published last month in the journal Lancet, Sputnik V is 91% effective and appears to prevent inoculated individuals from becoming severely ill with Covid-19, although it’s still unclear if the vaccine can prevent the spread of the disease.
Meanwhile, Germany’s vaccination authority has approved the use of Astrazeneca’s coronavirus vaccine on the over-65s, the health ministry said on Thursday, in a step that should help accelerate the country’s faltering vaccination drive.
The vaccine is one of three authorised for use in the 27-nation European Union. But several countries, including Germany, initially restricted it to people under 65, citing a lack of data on its effectiveness in older people.
The number of new coronavirus cases n Europe rose 9% to just above one million after six weeks of decline, the World
Health Organization said on Thursday, pushing to expand the vaccine portfolio.
“We are seeing a resurgence in central and Eastern Europe. New cases are also on the rise in several western European countries where rates were already high,” WHO Europe’s regional director Hans Kluge said.
“We need to get back to the basics. We need to enlarge” the vaccine portfolio, he added.