American business has asked the US authorities to recognize the Sputnik V vaccination certificates. This was stated by the President of the American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham) Alexis Rodzianko in an interview with edition “News”.
The entrepreneur said that the organization has applied to the State Department with a proposal. He noted that the department accepted the appeal for consideration.
Rodzianko also explained that at the moment, in order to travel from Russia to the United States, two things are needed: a visa, which is now impossible to obtain, and an inoculation with the vaccine recognized either by Washington or the World Health Organization (WHO). Therefore, American businessmen called on the US authorities to approve a number of vaccines for business travel to the country, including the Russian drug Sputnik V.
It is noted that since November 9, the United States has changed the rules for entering the country. Now foreigners with nonimmigrant visas are required to provide a certificate of complete vaccination against coronavirus, a drug approved by WHO or Washington. This list includes eight vaccines: American Moderna, Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer and BioNTech, British-Swedish AstraZeneca, Indian Covishield and Covaxin vaccines, and Chinese Sinovac Biotech and Sinopharm. At the same time, not a single Russian vaccine was included in the list. The Centers for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC) said that without a vaccination certificate, passengers will not be allowed on board.
Rodzianko also said that the American Chamber of Commerce has asked Russia to ease the rules for business travel. He noted that on December 1, a large group of foreign business associations will gather, which intends to once again ask the Russian government to recognize foreign vaccination certificates in the country. “Maybe not in order to fully accept the vaccine on its territory, but in order not to stop the business,” the entrepreneur emphasized.
The Russian Ministry of Health recalled that Moscow has already offered Washington to work out a mechanism for the mutual recognition of vaccination certificates. So, this issue was discussed on October 2 in Geneva at the negotiations of the Minister of Health of Russia Mikhail Murashko and the American delegation. The department also said that as a result of the conversation, they sent a letter to the United States with a proposal to consider the possibility of mutual recognition of certificates of preventive vaccinations and to work out the issue of recognizing documents on vaccination.
The Russian vaccine “Sputnik V” is currently not included in the list of those recommended by WHO, but the process of its recognition by the international community is actively moving forward. So, the head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) Kirill Dmitriev said that the WHO inspection to check Sputnik V could arrive in Russia as early as December 2021. According to him, negotiations on the arrival of the inspection in Russia were conducted by the Ministry of Health.
Dmitriev also noted that the issue of recognizing the Russian vaccine by an international organization in the field of health is planned to be resolved soon. “With WHO, everything will be decided literally in the near future. There are still a few bureaucratic stages left, which will be completed in the next few months, ”explained the RDIF CEO during a meeting at Bell.Club Live. He also added that the Russian Ministry of Health plays an important role in deciding whether the vaccine is recognized in Europe.
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