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Coronavirus pandemic

Bahrain approves emergency use of Russia’s Sputnik Light vaccine — agency

Sputnik Light became the sixth anti-coronavirus vaccine approved in Bahrain

© Vyacheslav Prokofiyev/TASS

CAIRO, May 11. /TASS/. The government of Bahrain has approved Russia’s Sputnik Light anti-coronavirus vaccine for emergency use, the Bahrain News Agency reported on Tuesday.

According to the report, the national pharmaceutical watchdog had analyzed all results of the vaccine’s testing, including those obtained during clinical trials. Apart from that, it was approved by the vaccination committee of the kingdom’s health ministry.

Sputnik Light became the sixth anti-coronavirus vaccine approved in Bahrain.

The report says that the vaccine’s manufacturer has provided the government of Bahrain with all information to prove Sputnik Light’s effectiveness against all new strains of the novel coronavirus. Apart from that, the kingdom’s authorities had received positive feedback about the vaccine from local scientists, including epidemiologists. The Health Ministry of Bahrain will launch import procedures soon on the basis of today’s approval.

Sputnik Light is the first component of Sputnik V which became the first registered vaccine against the coronavirus infection worldwide in August 2020. This is a vector vaccine based on a human adenovirus used to transport genetic information of the novel coronavirus. According to the latest data, the efficacy of Sputnik V reaches 97.6%. This is the highest indicator worldwide.

Vaccination in Bahrain

Last November, the government of Bahrain authorized the use of China’s Sinopharm anti-coronavirus vaccines for persons working with novel coronavirus patients. Later, the kingdom permitted the use of vaccine by US company Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech, and the jab by UK-Swedish company AstraZeneca.

Russia’s Sputnik V was cleared for use in Bahrain on February 10, while Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine received nationwide registration on February 25.

According to latest reports, a total of 191,018 COVID-19 cases have been registered in Bahrain since the start of the pandemic, 691 patients have died of coronavirus-related causes. Overall, the kingdom currently has 13,990 active cases of the disease, with 13,846 patients in stable condition and 144 in critical condition.

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