Pakistan approves Russia's Sputnik-V COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use

Russia's Sputnik-V has become the third COVID-19 vaccine to be approved by Pakistan for emergency use after China's Sinopharm and the one developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University, the country's health minister said on Tuesday.

"Sputnik has received EUA (emergency use authorisation)," the minister, Faisal Sultan, told Reuters in a WhatsApp text message.

Another candidate, developed by CanSino Biologics Inc(CanSinoBIO), has also completed clinical trials in the South Asian nation of 220 million people.