The developers of Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine against Covid-19 have questioned the neutrality of the European Medicines Agency (EMA) after an EMA official urged EU members to refrain from approving the Russian vaccine for now.

Christa Wirthumer-Hoche, the head of EMA’s management board, told a talk show on Austrian broadcaster ORF on March 7 that she advised European Union countries against granting Sputnik V a national emergency authorisation while EMA was still reviewing the Russian vaccine’s safety and effectiveness.

“We demand a public apology from EMA’s Christa Wirthumer-Hoche for her negative comments on EU states directly approving Sputnik V,” the vaccine developers wrote on the official Sputnik V Twitter account.