Why Europe should buy Sputnik V from Russia, like Hungary did

In Europe, opinions were voiced to follow the path of Hungary and buy the Sputnik V vaccine from Russia, without looking back at geopolitics. Who buys Sputnik V in Europe On January 15, Hungary announced the purchase of two million doses of the Russian COVID-19 vaccine to vaccinate one million people. The Hungarian Medicines Agency issued an emergency permit for the acquisition of Sputnik V, without waiting for a relevant decision from the European Medicines Agency (EMA).Hungary thus became the first country in the European Union that decided to buy the Russian vaccine that has no EMA's approval, nor does it appear in EU's unified vaccination program.It was only Belarus and Serbia that approved the use of Sputnik V in Europe before Hungary did the same. Bosnia and Herzegovina, which, like Serbia, is not a member of the EU, announced that it would begin negotiations with Russia in an anticipation of the arrival of the vaccine under the COVAX program (a program of the World Health Organization).Other European countries also ask themselves whether they should follow the path of Hungary, given that the EMA explained that an EU member state may decide to launch an emergency procedure for the approval of a medical product, but it should be used solely on the territory of the specified country. Czech Republic holds negotiations to purchase Sputnik V Czech epidemiologist Roman Prymula, who is also an adviser to Prime Minister Andrei Babis, believes that "European countries have the right to conclude their sub-contracts outside the global contract.""The Czech Republic, like Hungary, will consider the issue of how to obtain quality vaccines," Prymula said, rozhlas.cz website reports. According to the expert, the vaccination process in the EU is going slowly, and "the EU itself realizes the need to start discussions with other manufacturers."Roman Prymula also noted that none of the world's vaccines passed all three stages of clinical trials. All of the currently available vaccines have their risks, but Hungary found itself in a better position, because it would receive the results of the third phase and quantitatively more vaccines without bureaucratic delays of centralized distribution.