More than a half of German citizens – 57 percent – have expressed readiness to be inoculated with Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine against the coronavirus if it is approved for use in the European Union and Germany, a poll conducted by the Forsa institute for the RTL media group shows.
According to the pollster, the share of those ready to be vaccinated with Sputnik V in Germany stood at 45 percent in early February, Sputnik News reports.
The poll also indicates that 69 percent of Germans want to be vaccinated against COVID-19 but 44 percent do not want to be inoculated with the AstraZeneca drug. As many as 10 percent want to wait some time before the vaccination and 8 percent do not want to do that at all.
The poll involved 1,001 respondents, the statistical accuracy stands at three percent.
On Tuesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed the prospects of registering the Sputnik V vaccine in the European Union, as well as its delivery and joint production in a phone conversation with French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
As Germany has faced vaccine shortfalls, Chancellor Merkel said earlier it was necessary to use Russian coronavirus vaccine Sputnik V in the European Union, once approved by the European Medicines Agency (EMA), and if the EU does not order it, Germany will do it on its own.
Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz has also expressed readiness to be inoculated with Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine. On Tuesday, Kurz noted that the EU should base its decisions on such factors as vaccine efficacy and safety than its origin when determining whether or not to approve the drug.
According to Kurz, Vienna considers securing the doses of the Russian vaccine in April-June.
Sputnik V, which is still undergoing the rolling review procedure conducted by the EMA, has already been authorized in 58 countries. According to trial results released by medical journal Lancet, the vaccine has 91.6 percent efficacy against symptomatic COVID-19.
