Austria will only use Sputnik V vaccine after EMA approval, Kurz says

VIENNA - Austria will only use Russia's Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine once the European Medicines Agency has approved it, Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said on Monday, amid growing public frustration with the pace of COVID-19 vaccinations.

Austria has been in talks with Russia to buy a million doses of the vaccine, and Kurz said on March 31 the order would probably be placed the following week. However, that order has yet to be announced. Kurz had recently avoided saying whether his country would await EMA approval of the vaccine, which has been used in the European Union only by Hungary so far. EMA has launched a rolling review of Sputnik V.