Argentina approves AstraZeneca-Oxford COVID-19 vaccine

Argentina has approved the coronavirus vaccine developed by the Oxford University and the pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca, making it the second country after Britain to do so.

The country’s drug regulator Anmat said it granted an emergency registration limited to one year for the sale of the vaccine.

The regulator said the risk-benefit ratio of the product was acceptable.

Britain had also granted emergency approval to the vaccine made by the British-Swedish pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca and Oxford University.

The drug had shown lower efficacy in trials than BioNtech/Pfizer vaccine already approved in some countries, including Argentina.

However, it can be stored with far less effort and is much cheaper.

On Tuesday, Argentina had started to administer the Russia-developed Sputnik V vaccine.

According to official figures, Argentina, which has a population of around 45 million, has recorded around 1.6 million coronavirus infections and 43,000 deaths.

Later, El Salvador’s Central American drug authority, DNM, said it had granted emergency approval for importation, distribution and use of the vaccine.

For both Latin American countries, it was initially unclear when the drug was expected to be used and how many doses each would receive.

Mexico’s Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard stated that approval was imminent in the country.

In August, the governments of Argentina and Mexico had agreed with AstraZeneca that the vaccine would be manufactured for all of Latin America except Brazil if approved in the two countries. (dpa/NAN)