OREANDA-NEWS. The San Marino authorities, thanks to the supply of the Russian Sputnik V vaccine, were able to find a way out of the difficult situation and start a campaign to vaccinate the population against COVID-19. This was stated in an interview with RIA Novosti by Roberto Chavatta, Secretary of State and Minister of the Republic for Health and Social Welfare.

A member of the government of the republic, which is surrounded on all sides by Italian territory, recalled that in early January a special protocol was signed with Italy and the EU regarding the supply of vaccines approved by the European Medicines Agency (EMA).

As Chawatta said, “There have been very significant delays in the supply of these vaccines due to bureaucratic and administrative reasons related to the behavior of manufacturers. As a result, in February we did not have any vaccines. In this situation, we approached the Russian Federation through its representatives in the Council of Europe and through the Russian ambassador to Italy and San Marino. Thus, we quickly established contacts with the Russian Direct Investment Fund, and already on February 23 we received the first 7,500 doses of Sputnik. "

The Secretary of State stressed that then San Marino "had to unblock the delicate situation in which we were the only country in Europe that could not vaccinate anyone. And thanks to Sputnik, we were able to do this and start a vaccination campaign, which is now very active ".

Since San Marino is not a member of the EU, it did not have to wait for the EMA's approval to use the Russian vaccine. Nevertheless, the authorities of the republic decided to use "Sputnik V", having studied the information published in the scientific journal The Lancet, and also taking into account the opinion of the leadership of the Italian Institute of Infectious Diseases Lazzaro Spallanzani.