France's Le Pen says government should consider using Sputnik V without EU approval

Marine Le Pen, the leader of the right-wing National Rally party on Monday said that France should pursue the use of vaccines against the coronavirus, unauthorized by the European Union, including Russia's Sputnik V, without waiting for the relevant approval from the European Medicines Agency (EMA).

"I am amazed to see that the French government is waiting for the permission of the European Union to order the Russian Sputnik vaccine or the Chinese vaccine. In my opinion, if the way out of the crisis is vaccination, then it must be urgently accelerated. And to do this, we need to expand access to vaccines," Le Pen said at a press conference.

Given supply cuts of doses of the vaccines, authorized in the bloc, the French authorities should follow the example of other European nations, such as Slovakia and Hungary, which "have freely certified vaccines" without pending approval of the EMA, she noted.

In early March, the EMA launched a rolling review to test the Russian vaccine for compliance with EU standards for effectiveness, safety, and quality.

Sputnik V has already been approved for use in 54 countries, ranking second worldwide in terms of the number of approvals. (/Sputnik)

( With inputs from ANI )