Russians may soon be allowed to get vaccinations that are not approved by the government, according to the business daily Kommersant, which cites a Health Ministry suggestion that is open for public debate.
Vaccines such as Pfizer and Moderna as well as Chinese vaccines like Sinopharm and Sinovac may now be available to Russians thanks to the decision to loosen import restrictions.
Moscow International Medical Cluster (MIMC) should be allowed to import vaccinations and medications that are not approved in Russia, according to a recommendation made by the Russian Ministry of Health on Tuesday. As part of the Skolkovo Innovation Center, MIMC has access to medications that are registered in other OECD nations but unavailable in Russia because of a special legislative structure.
“Participating hospitals will be permitted to provide foreign coronavirus vaccines in Russia in the future,” according to Kommersant.
“Demand for them may be substantial, especially if further issues with the Sputnik V vaccine were discovered overseas,” the report stated, adding that demand for relatively small amounts may be strong. The article added.
No date was given in the article for when legislation to loosen import restrictions will be approved by the Health Ministry.
The government’s website, which publishes legislative ideas, indicates that the plan’s public debates would come to an end on October 25.
Russian authorities have put a hold on the MIMC branch of Israel’s Hadassah Medical Center’s attempt to import Covid-19 vaccines into the country until January 2021.
However, an independent Gogov monitor reports that the country’s national vaccination program has halted at 36% of the adult population, despite the fact that infection rates have increased over the summer and deaths have soared to pandemic proportions as a result.
Foreign vaccination access is critical for Russians who want to visit the United States, where, according to The Washington Post, non-citizens who have not been immunized with a US Food and Drug Administration- or WHO-approved vaccine will be denied entry.
