"From March to June, we will deliver from 300 to 350 million doses of vaccines to Europe. Since Europe is the continent with the most vaccines (four) that are approved by medical regulators, we are the first continent to manufacture vaccines. We absolutely don't need Sputnik V. As for Sputnik V, the Russians have problems with its production, and if they need help, we will return to this in the second half of the year, but now the priority is given to the Europeans”, - Breton said on the TF1 TV channel.
He stated that there is a high probability of achieving herd immunity in Europe by July 14 (French national holiday Bastille Day).
As for the use of the Russian vaccine against COVID-19 to compensate for the shortage in the European Union, Breton noted that the European Commission does not doubt the quality of Sputnik V, but at the same time they know that Russia "also has difficulties with the production of this vaccine".
It's worth reminding that on March 4, the European Medicines Agency announced the beginning of a consistent examination of the Russian drug.
In the meantime, a number of European countries were forced to stop vaccination with the British-Swedish company AstraZeneca, because of the revealed risks of using this vaccine. For example, France, Germany and Italy took such a step in the middle of the month, and earlier Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands, as well as non-European states announced the suspension of vaccination with this drug.
At the same time, against the background of problems with the vaccine from AstraZeneca, Swedish pharmaceutical companies announced their readiness to produce the Russian vaccine.
Today "Sputnik V" has been approved in more than fifty countries of the world.