German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Tuesday said all vaccines "are welcome" in the EU once they have received regulatory approval, after Russia's Sputnik V jab was found to be 91.6 percent effective in trial results.
"Every vaccine is welcome in the European Union," Merkel said in an interview with German broadcaster ARD. "Today we have read good data for the Russian vaccine too," she added.
Merkel also mentioned that she had recently spoken to President Vladimir Putin about the Russian vaccine.