Medication can be authorised for use in the European Union via two procedures — a generalised one through the European Medicines Agency or an emergency procedure for individual states which then carry the liability for using the medication, De Keersmaecker said.
"We are, of course, very much in favour of the authorisation through the European Medicines Agency. It's this agency that goes very thoroughly through the efficacy and safety of the vaccine before it can be put on the market," the spokesman told a press conference.
The commission does not have data about the Russian vaccine, except that its developers approached the EMA, the spokesman added.
At the moment more than 50 countries want to buy the world's first vaccine against coronavirus, Sputnik V, which was registered in Russia on 11 August. The Gamaleya Research Institute, which developed the vaccine, has already received applications for 1.2 billion doses of Sputnik V.
On 13 October, Russia's State Research Centre for Virology and Biotechnology, Vector, registered its EpiVacCorona vaccine against coronavirus that is set to be released by the end of the year.