BRUSSELS 

The European Union is open to buying COVID-19 vaccines developed in China and Russia if the jabs meet certain criteria, the European Commission’s spokesperson confirmed on Monday.

Besides clinically proven efficiency and safety, the bloc requires vaccines producers to fit into “the right budget” and “to have right production capacities in the territory of the EU so that they could supply more quickly to EU citizens”, Stefan De Keersmaecker said at the European Commission’s daily press briefing.

“If companies feel they can meet these criteria, they can get in touch with the European Commission”, the spokesperson for health added.

De Keersmaecker also mentioned that the European Medicine Agency and developers of the Russian Sputnik V vaccines are “in contact”, but “at this stage, no request for marketing authorization has been made”.

The EU, which has a population of 450 million, signed advanced purchase agreements with six vaccine producers -- Pfizer/BioNTech, Moderna, AstraZeneca, CureVac, Johnson & Johnson, and Sanofi/GlaxoSmithKline -- to buy about 2.3 billion vaccine doses.

The bloc expects to receive up to 600 million doses of coronavirus jabs until the end of September from producers Pfizer/BioNTech, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson.

AstraZeneca also announced on Sunday to deliver 40 million shots in the first quarter of the year.

The European Commission’s vaccine strategy suggests EU member states would immunize at least 70% of the adult population by summer.

Accusing the EU for the slow roll-out of vaccines, the Hungarian government signed contracts in January to buy 2 million doses of Russia’s Sputnik V and 5 million of the Chinese jabs produced by Sinopharm.

Hungary became the first EU country to grant license to both of the COVID-19 vaccines.

In the absence of the EU regulator’s authorization, Hungary’s National Institute of Pharmacy and Nutrition granted the approval for emergency use for an initial period of six months.

The European Commission introduced on Friday a transparency and authorization mechanism on coronavirus vaccines produced in EU countries.

Under the new rules, before giving export authorization for COVID-19 jabs, member states will have to notify the European Commission whether a pharmaceutical company timely delivered the vaccines within the bloc.