The small New Left party on Thursday called on Croatian drug regulator to evaluate data about the Covid-19 vaccines developed in Russia and China, and that based on the findings they should either green-light the inoculation of Croatians with those shots or discard such option, rather than wait for the European Medicines Agency (EMA).

The party, which holds one seat in the 151-yeat Parliament, said in a lengthy statement that the Croatian government should approve or reject these vaccines independently of the EMA. The EMA, which is in charge for drug regulations across the European Union, has so far only approved four western-made vaccines.

The New Left said that after the “mass inoculation of millions of people” with Russian and Chinese vaccines, there are currently no signs hinting that these are of poorer quality than any other vaccines.

Some non-EU countries such as neighboring Serbia have already used large quantities of the Russian-made Sputnik V and the Chinese-made Sinopharm vaccines to inoculate their populations, and some EU countries where deliveries of western-made vaccines have been delayed are now looking into adding these to their arsenal of vaccines in order to speed up the vaccination drive.

“Croatia has become one of the countries worst affected by delays in vaccine distribution, and therefore it fares worse in terms of the number of coronavirus vaccine doses per 100 inhabitants, and in terms of the number of inoculated persons, as a result of ‘blind obedience to EU institutions that have failed in negotiations with vaccine producers’,” the New Left said in a press release.