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Hungary helped test Sputnik V doses for Slovakia – results are satisfactory
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A Slovakia health ministry spokeswoman said on Sunday a Hungarian lab has confirmed that the first batch of Russia’s Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccines sent to Slovakia were satisfactory and the government would discuss the next steps with Russia.
The tests were carried out in Hungary after Russia had requested additional tests in an EU-certified laboratory, saying the Slovaks had not tested them in such a facility. The Slovak government is considering whether to use the Russian shots in the country of 5.5 million that has been hit hard by the COVID-19 outbreak.
The Slovak health ministry’s spokeswoman, Zuzana Eliasova, said on Sunday that Slovakia is now waiting for further test results from Russia, which are expected at the end of May.
She did not provide details on what kind of tests were carried out in Hungary or how the results might address any data gaps raised by Slovakia’s drug regulator.
Hungary’s drug regulator said in April it would help Slovakia examine batches of Russian Sputnik V vaccines that Slovakia had received, and Slovak Health Minister Vladimir Lengvarsky said on Friday the tests were satisfactory.
“Yesterday we received by email from the Hungarian side the results of the tests, which are negative, they are alright,” Lengvarsky told reporters on Friday. “In the next round we will communicate with our experts and mainly with the Russian side about the next development in this question.”
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To date Russia has not won approval from the EU regulator, the European Medicines Agency, for Sputnik V. So far, Hungary is the only EU country to have begun inoculations with Sputnik V without waiting for EMA approval.