Czech President Milos Zeman has asked Russian President Vladimir Putin to supply Russia's Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine, CNN Prima reports.
"If I am correctly informed, my request will be satisfied," Zeman told CNN Prima in an interview, saying he had sent a letter to Putin with a request for Sputnik V deliveries.
The Czech president said certification from the country's State Institute for Drug Control (SUKL) would be enough to get the vaccine out and that authorization by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) was not necessarily needed.
"Of course, we will need certification [for Sputnik V], not necessarily by the European Medicines Agency. To me a certificate from the Czech State Institute for Drug Control will be enough," he said.
On Tuesday, high-ranking officials from the Czech Republic spoke in favor of using only those coronavirus vaccines that are approved by the EMA.
Meanwhile, Iran and Russia plan to launch the joint production of vaccines against coronavirus, namely the Sputnik V.
"Iran is to become one of five centers of production of Sputnik outside Russia," the Iranian government said.
The country's production capacity allows Iranian manufacturers to produce up to 40 million doses of vaccine annually.
Tehran plans to launch production by March 21, which marks the end of the year under the Persian calendar.
