Argentina authorizes emergency use of China's Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine

BUENOS AIRES -- The Argentine government officially approved the emergency use of an inactivated COVID-19 vaccine developed by Chinese pharmaceutical firm Sinopharm, according to a resolution signed Sunday by the country's Minister of Health Carla Vizzotti.

The resolution was signed by Vizzotti after the National Administration of Medicines, Food and Medical Technology advised the Ministry of Health to include the Sinopharm vaccine into the national inoculation plan against COVID-19.

The spokesperson for the health minister stressed that clinical trials of the vaccine showed that it is "safe and effective."

China's Sinopharm vaccine is the fifth authorized vaccine by Argentina, after the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, Russia's Sputnik V vaccine, Britain's AstraZeneca vaccine and Covishield vaccine produced by the Serum Institute of India.

According to President Alberto Fernandez's social media account, "more than 700 thousand people have received doses of the vaccine against COVID-19. More than 400 thousand people have already received the two doses and they have been immunized."

"The rate of vaccination will accelerate with the arrival of more vaccines in the country," said Fernandez.

The South American country has registered 2,064,334 cases and 51,198 deaths from the disease as of Sunday night.