The official TV channel of the Transnistrian region “Pervyi Pridnestrovskii” said the Transnistrian administration is dissatisfied with the fact that the authorities in Chisinau have delayed the delivery of a batch of Sputnik V vaccine doses for Transnistria for the third week already. “They invent all kinds of excuses. This time they invoked the price, as if Sputnik is cheaper. But time passes. The vaccine has a period of validity. The longer Chisinau dallies, the smaller are the chances for the Transnistrians to get vaccinated with Sputnik,” says the TV channel’s post on a social networking site that is quoted by IPN. For her part, secretary of state at the Ministry of Health Zinaida Bzverhni has told IPN that the authorization to import the batch of vaccine doses will be issued on Friday, after the order regarding the price of this vaccine is published in the Official Gazette.

“Pervyi Pridnestrovskii” noted that the Transnistrian administration made a new request to the participants in the talks. “The authorities of the Republic of Moldova turn again a humanitarian policy into politics and create new difficulties for Transnistria,” said the de facto administration of the region.  

However, secretary of state at the Ministry of Health Zinaida Bezverhni stated for IPN that the authorization for the import of the batch of Sputnik V vaccine doses will be issued on November 19. Asked why it took so long, she said there was no legal reason until now. “The price of the vaccine was to be registered officially. On Friday, the order concerning the price will appear in the Official Gazette”.

Zinaida Bezverhni explained that they identified a legal solution for authorizing the import.
“Based on this order, the import authorization will be issued. To authorize the import of a medicine, including a vaccine, two conditions need to be met: inclusion of this in the state nomenclature of medicines and registration of the price in the catalogue of producer prices. The second element was absent until now. We solved the problem”.

The secretary of state also said that the Moldovan authorities communicated proactively with representatives of the Russian producer.