Lebanon has approved the Russian SPUTNIK V coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine for emergency use.
The national scientific COVID-19 committee, established by caretaker Health Minister Hamad Hasan, approved SPUTNIK V for emergency use, under the condition that its import takes place exclusively by an authorized pharmaceutical warehouse.
The approval came during a meeting of the national committee on Friday, headed by the Health Minister, the National News Agency (NNA) reported.
Now that it has received the authorization, SPUTNIK V can be marketed under the applicable conditions.
A deal will be made with the companies that import the Russian vaccine to ensure the documentation of citizens who received it and to guarantee compliance with the standards and regulations set by the national comittee.
The committee will continue to study other requests to adopt additional vaccines, including the Chinese Sinophram vaccine, in future meetings, according to the NNA.
Caretaker Minister Hasan recently revealed that Lebanon was studying the files of 6 pharmaceutical companies, noting that the country is open to adopting new vaccines apart from the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.
The first shipment of vaccines is expected to reach Lebanon in mid-February.
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