Czech Republic turns to Russian vaccine amid soaring COVID cases

Prime Minister Andrej Babis says hard-hit country cannot wait for EU approval for Russia’s Sputink V shot.

The Czech Republic has requested a batch of Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine while awaiting delayed EU-procured shots, the president said Sunday, adding that Prague will also consider seeking Chinese jabs. The EU member has ranked among the world’s worst-hit countries by the COVID pandemic in the past few weeks, with soaring numbers of infections and deaths, as the situation has been exacerbated by the new variants of the virus. The vaccination rollout has been slower than expected with only 650,000 jabs administered since December in the country of 10.7 million people, which Czech politicians blame on slow procurement by the EU.