Germany needs effective COVID-19 vaccine urgently : AfD leader

Moscow, Dec 9 (Sputnik) The Alternative for Germany (AfD) party thinks that Germany requires a vaccine against the coronavirus disease and it does not matter where it originates, Armin-Paulus Hampel, the party spokesman in the German lower house’s committee on foreign affairs, told Sputnik in an interview.
The EU has signed contracts for the supply of some 2 billion doses of vaccines using emergency clause that allows vaccine to be used prior to clinical trial completion. Both Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech have already applied for their vaccines to be approved by the European Medicines Agency for emergency use. Hungary has sought Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine, but was warned by the EU to not let any doses outside its borders into other EU countries.
“believe what people want is a working vaccine. And I do not care where it comes from,” Hampel said.
The politician added that a Russia-made vaccine could be used in Germany and Europe.
“If Russia has established an efficient vaccine against corona, then it is proper to use it in Europe, in Germany, as well,” Hampel stated.
On Tuesday, an AfD delegation visited Moscow and held a meeting with Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Russia has emerged as a leader in vaccine development as two of its products, Sputnik V, developed by Moscow’s Gamaleya Institute, and EpiVacCorona, developed by the Siberian research center Vector, are already in the Phase 3 trials. Another vaccine, by the Chumakov research center of the Russian Academy of Sciences, will begin Phase 3 trials early in 2021.