BRATISLAVA: Slovakia on Wednesday became the second European Union country to authorize use of the Russian-made Sputnik V vaccine, which has not yet been approved by the bloc's drug regulator.
The Slovak government asked Health Minister Vladimir Lengvarsky to make the COVID-19 vaccine available by June 7.
Slovakia has 200,000 doses of Sputnik V vaccine in stock but had not allowed its use until now.
Hungary is the only other EU nation to use Sputnik V, which has not been authorized by the European Medicines Agency.
A secret deal for Slovakia to purchase 2 million Sputnik V shots orchestrated by then-Prime Minister Igor Matovic triggered a political crisis in March that resulted in the Slovak government’s collapse.