PRAGUE — The Czech Republic’s prime minister says his country is not ready to administer the Russia-made Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine before it is approved by the European Union’s drug regulator.

Prime Minister Andrej Babis has been seeking vaccines outside the EU’s common program after deliveries from approved Western drug companies were delayed.

With a team of experts, Babis visited Hungary on Friday to discuss their experience with the vaccine. Hungary is the first EU country to give a green light to the Russian vaccine.

Babis was talking to reporters on Wednesday before he departed for a similar fact-finding trip to Serbia. The Balkan country has been administering China’s Sinopharm vaccines and Russia’s Sputnik V along with the Pfizer shots that are also used in the EU.

He says that according to his information, the European Medicines Agency has already received a request from Russia to approve Sputnik V. It is not clear when a decision might be made.

The Czech Health Ministry has announced that a Moderna vaccine delivery scheduled for Monday will be delayed by one week and that only half of the expected dozes, 44,000, will arrive.