Russia asks Slovakia to return Sputnik V vaccine

The fund behind Russia's Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine said on Thursday that Slovakia should return doses received from Russia due to contract violations, after Slovakia's drug agency raised issues with the shot. Reuters news agency reports citing the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), responsible for marketing the vaccine abroad, official Twitter page. According to Reuters, the fund also requested that a batch be sent to a specially-certified laboratory for further checks, after Slovakia's drug agency said earlier that the shots it had received differed from those reviewed by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) and medical journal The Lancet.