The director of the WHO Regional Office for Europe, Hans Kluge, said at the Economic Forum of Saint Petersburg that the study is necessary for the certification of the Russian vaccine and that a report will be prepared after the visit.

‘I have been in contact with Russian authorities from the beginning, as we are faced with the task of approving the vaccine,’ he told the TASS news agency.

Kluge stressed that regarding the Sputnik V certification, ‘there is definitely cause for optimism,’ and added that the fact that both the European Medicines Agency (EMA) and WHO are studying a vaccine is a good sign.

The EMA announced on March 4 the start of a sequential examination procedure on the Sputnik V vaccine against the SARS CoV-2 coronavirus. The Russian drug registration is yet to be completed.

Kluge praised the work by Russian authorities to ensure the availability of several vaccines at the same time for the country’s population.

‘I must give credit to the government and the pharmaceutical industry, now there are several vaccines available at the same time. But we need a large part of the population to be vaccinated. Therefore, we must increase the proportion of vaccinated citizens,’ he said.

Regarding this, he indicated that at least 70 percent of the population must be vaccinated to achieve collective immunity.

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