Russia Expects WHO's Approval for Sputnik V in 1st Half of 2022

Director of the Foreign Affairs' Economic Cooperation Department Dmitry Birichevsky said on Tuesday that the state is expecting World Health Organization (WHO) approval for the Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine in the first half of 2022.

Birichevsky explained, “We have been actively helping the Russian Direct Investment Fund to promote our vaccine Sputnik V in international markets. This is constant routine work, which requires attention and cooperation with embassies.

He added, “We still hope that the vaccine will be requalified by the WHO at some stage. I think it will be in the first half of next year.”

After that, the Russian official reflected that only one step is for WHO’s approval, which is the technical paperwork; “It means that business circles can go abroad more calmly knowing that our vaccine is approved not only by 71 countries. I hope that it will be recognized globally, and then the barriers that unfortunately exist at present will be eliminated,” Birichevsky explained.

The Sputnik V vaccine is approved and used in more than 71 countries around the world, and it is under the evaluation of the WHO and the European Medicines Agency (EMA).

Until now, only eight COVID-19 vaccines have been approved for emergency use by the WHO. They are Pfizer, Moderna, AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson, AstraZeneca, AstraZeneca’s vaccine that is manufactured in India, Covidshield, Sinopharm, Cavaxin, and Sinovac.