On Wednesday, Chancellor Kurz announced that they were “on the last meters” in the Sputnik procurement. However, a final decision on the matter is not expected today.
Russia offers Austria 1 million doses
After his talks with Russian Ambassador to Vienna Dmitry Lyubinsky, Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said they are “on the last meters and an order for Sputnik can probably be placed as early as next week.” Kurz said he was very happy about the binding delivery promise, as a “very prompt delivery” would thus be possible here. Currently, after already weeks of talks, the details are still being agreed upon, the chancellor said as reported by the Austrian Press Agency.
“If we order Sputnik, we will still receive 300,000 cans in April, 500,000 cans in May and 200,000 cans in early June,” Kurz said. A data room has been set up and negotiations are currently underway between the Federal Chancellery, the Ministry of Health and the Procurator Fiscal’s Office with the Russian side, the chancellor explained. A purchase decision had not yet been made, it had said on Tuesday from the Chancellor’s Office. And a decision was not expected on Wednesday either, a spokesman said to APA.
So far, Sputnik V has been approved in 60 countries, according to Russia, but not in the EU. Kurz had always stated that the prerequisite for delivery to Austria was EU approval of the Russian Corona vaccine. On Tuesday, the chancellor acknowledged that there should be “no geopolitical blinkers” when it comes to the vaccine. The head of the national vaccination committee, Ursula Wiedermann-Schmidt, expressed more skepticism Tuesday evening about a purely national approval.
- source: vienna.at/pixabay.com
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