Antonio Guterres
UN Secretary General António Guterres expressed the hope that the Russian vaccine against coronavirus will be certified by the World Health Organization (WHO) as soon as possible. He stated this in an interview with TASS
Guterres recalled that at the moment WHO was presented and the developers of the Russian vaccine are negotiating on the registration of the drug. “I hope these contacts will lead to her being recognized or certified by WHO as quickly as possible,” he said.
The UN Secretary General suggested that the Russian drug could be used to vaccinate the organization's employees and the local population in the most vulnerable regions of the world, where the UN has peacekeeping missions. “We believe that the Russian vaccine can play a very important role in this fight [against the coronavirus pandemic],” Guterres said.
Already 12 countries have approved the use of the Sputnik V vaccine on their territory. Among them are Belarus, Argentina, Bolivia, Serbia, Algeria, Palestine, Venezuela, Paraguay, Turkmenistan, UAE, Hungary and Pakistan.
During his speech at the UN General Assembly session in September, Russian President Vladimir Putin offered the organization's employees a Russian vaccine against coronavirus free of charge. The Russian leader said that Moscow had received similar appeals from UN colleagues and could not remain indifferent to them.
