OREANDA-NEWS. The decision of the EU regulator to use the Russian vaccine against the Sputnik V coronavirus may be made in the first quarter of next year, foreign media write, citing a source familiar with the situation.

Earlier Kirill Dmitriev, head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), said that the fund expects that the World Health Organization will approve the Sputnik V vaccine in the next couple of months. According to him, WHO has confirmed the consideration of "Sputnik V", the process is in the final stage.

"The decision of the European Medicines Agency (EMA) before the end of this year is now completely impossible," - quotes Reuters as a source.

The source added that if the necessary data are received by the end of November, "then the regulator may well make a decision in the first quarter of next year."

In turn, the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) expects that the World Health Organization (WHO) will approve the Sputnik V vaccine in the next couple of months, said the head of the fund, Kirill Dmitriev. "WHO has just announced that they are resuming their examination of Sputnik V, we expect a team of inspectors to come to Russia soon. And we expect WHO approval of the vaccine in the coming months," Dmitriev said in an interview with CNN.

There are currently five COVID-19 vaccines registered in the Russian Federation. The first of these, Sputnik V, created by the Gamaleya National Research Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology with the support of RDIF, is widely used for mass immunization, and has been approved in 70 countries.