Frantisek Iván
On Tuesday, Health Minister Vladimir Lengvarsky announced in a TV interview in Bratislava that it was now possible to register via the Internet for the vaccine, which is not approved in the EU. The first vaccinations will be given on Monday. The Russian vaccine is intended for the age groups from 18 to 60 years.
Slovakia becomes only the second EU country after Hungary to use the vaccine despite the lack of approval from the European Medicines Agency (EMA). A week ago Lengvarsky himself complained that Russia had still not provided all of the documentation that would justify national approval. With his demand that the vaccine only be used after EU approval, he was unable to prevail against the majority of the other ministers in the four-party coalition.
Slovakia had already received 200,000 doses of the vaccine from Russia at the beginning of March, but has not yet used it due to the lack of approval. The then conservative-populist Prime Minister Igor Matovic had secretly ordered the vaccine in the middle of a government crisis, which accelerated his resignation. It was only on Wednesday last week that the government passed a majority vote in favor of the operation and justified this with the fact that many people would not be vaccinated at all if Sputnik V was not also an option.