Bavaria has negotiated a "
preliminary contract
" to receive soon 2.5 million doses of the Russian Sputnik V vaccine against Covid-19, subject to its approval by the European regulator, the German regional leader announced on Wednesday (April 7th). Markus Söder.
Read also: Sputnik V tends relations between Moscow and the EU
This "
preliminary contract is signed today
", indicated the elected conservative, who belongs to the camp of Angela Merkel, during a press conference in Munich.
"
If Sputnik is approved in Europe, then the state of Bavaria will receive additional doses of vaccine
", numbering 2.5 million, "
in June
".
Discussions were held with the Russian Sovereign Fund (RDIF), which financed the development of the vaccine, the regional health ministry said in a statement.
“In
addition to the possibility of importing the vaccine directly from Russia, a production line must also be set up by the company R-Pharm Germany in Illertissen
", A municipality in Bavaria, according to the same source.
R-Pharm Germany is a subsidiary of the Russian drug manufacturing group R-Pharm.
Söder, a possible candidate for Angela Merkel's succession, had already pleaded in March for the European regulator EMA, which has started the Sputnik review, to "
speed up
" its approval process.
Markus Söder heads the Bavarian CSU party, a twin formation of the ruling CDU.
He enjoys greater popularity with voters in the polls than the leader of the Conservative Party, Armin Laschet, who is also a contender for the candidacy.
Bavaria, the largest German Land, is the first regional state to announce such an order while the vaccination campaign is slipping in the country, due to the logistical organization but also to the number of doses available.
“
Recent experiences in the field of vaccine supply show that it is very important to create regional manufacturing capacities in Germany,
” said Bavarian Minister of Health Klaus Holetschek.
The latter described Sputnik as "
a very effective vaccine
", saying it was "
good and fair that we have now secured this option
".
The German government has so far said it wants to wait for the EMA to make a decision before entering into purchasing discussions, but Berlin has emerged as one of the main advocates for this vaccine in Europe.
Other Western countries, notably France, accuse Moscow of using its vaccine as a tool of geopolitical influence, accusations Russia rejects.
Faced with the slowness of vaccination within the European Union (EU), Austria has also announced, like Slovakia, directly negotiating the delivery of the Russian vaccine, in addition to those ordered by the European Commission.
Hungary is currently the only EU member to administer this vaccine.