NICOSIA: Cyprus, the middle east country,  has decided to buy 50,000 shots of Russian Sputnik V Covid-19 vaccine once it is cleared by the European Medicines Agency, government spokesman Kyriakos Koushos said on Tuesday.

Cyprus has placed orders for coronavirus vaccines collectively with all other EU countries with pharmaceutical companies with which the European Commission has struck commercial agreements on behalf of the member states. Cyprus, along with a cluster of European countries including Germany, France, Spain and Italy, has suspended the use of AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine over blood clot concerns.

The spokesman noted that the decision was made 15 days ago under a bilateral agreement with Russia, adding there is a possibility to buy more Sputnik V vaccine depending on the availability of other vaccines, the Xinhua news agency reported.

So far, four vaccines viz. Pfizer/BioNTech, Moderna, AstraZeneca, and Johnson & Johnson, have been approved by the EMA.

A total of 263 candidate vaccines are still being developed worldwide (81 of them in clinical trials) in countries including Germany, China, Russia, Britain, and the United States, according to latest information released by the World Health Organization.

The European Medicines Agency said on March 4 that it had started a rolling review of the Sputnik V vaccine so as to be in a position to speed up any approval once the Russian side submits the marketing authorisation application for the vaccine.

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