The State Institute for the Supervision of Medicines (SUKL) from Slovakia apologized on Tuesday to the European Medicines Agency's (EMA) Management Board chair Christa Wirthumer-Hoche for Slovak Prime Minister Igor Matovič's (OLANO) statements earlier in the day, in which he urged "dear Christa" and the rest at EMA to begin working harder in reviewing vaccines for coronavirus.
"I personally approached Dr. Christa Wirthumer-Hoche today to deliver my apology," said SUKL director Zuzana Baťová.
SUKL noted that reviews of vaccines by EMA usually take around a year. The process of registering vaccines against COVID-19 has been set to observe due requirements, while cutting the time needed as much as possible, said SUKL spokesperson Magdalena Jurkemiková.
Matovič's statement came in reaction to a recommendation by Wirthumer-Hoche for EU-member states not to inoculate people with the Russian Sputnik V vaccine before it is declared safe by the EMA.
The EMA begun a rolling review of the Sputnik V vaccine last week, with an eye towards clearing it for use in the EU.
