According to a survey conducted in February, Slovak citizen said they are ready to welcome Sputnik V with open arms.
That survey, carried out by the pollster Focus Agency, showed that 55% of Slovaks wish to be vaccinated using the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, while 35% are against it.
The survey also showed that the Russian vaccine is the runner-up, overtaking AstraZeneca and Moderna, with 53% of participants giving it a favorable rating, though 35% of the participants were opposed to the idea.
Slovakia’s Prime Minister Igor Matovic expressed confidence that the purchase of Sputnik V will be what he called “a gamechanger”, regardless of the public’s hesitation about the vaccine.
Matovic went onto Facebook to react to the results of the survey saying: “It was a crucial step to ensure that about half a million people will take a vaccine, who would not do so otherwise.”
The Slovak government’s decision to purchase two million doses of the Russian vaccine has led to a major internal political crisis and deep criticism from the EU, due to the fact that Sputnik V has yet to receive authorization from Europe’s medicine regulation agency. Two leaders from the top two junior coalition parties have publically expressed their disapproval of the government’s decision.
In Slovakia, people are currently not allowed to choose which vaccine they will be given. as a result, Health Minister Marek Krajcí granted emergency approval for Sputnik V.