Argentina authorises emergency use of China’s Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine

Argentina’s drug regulator has approved the coronavirus vaccine, developed by China’s Sinopharm, for emergency use in the country, Reuters reported. The office of President Alberto Fernandez said 1 million doses of the Chinese jab is expected in the South American country in the next few days.

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Sinopharm’s vaccine requires two doses per person.

“This will be a new vaccine that our country will have as part of the national government’s prevention strategy in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic,” the government said.

The approval was granted as Argentina is ramping up its vaccination drive, which has been largely dependent on Russia’s Sputnik V. The country has till now received 1.22 million doses of the Sputnik V vaccine, which was developed by Russia’s Gamaleya Institute.

Argentina, which has a population of 45 million has also received 580,000 doses of Covishield, the vaccine developed by British-Swedish pharmaceutical firm AstraZeneca in collaboration with the University of Oxford and manufactured at India’s Serum Institute of India.

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The South American country has recorded more than two million COVID-19 cases and 51,198, as per Johns Hopkins University’s tally.