Jordan approves emergency use of China’s Sinopharm coronavirus vaccine
- The country hopes to start its vaccination campaign in the coming days, with around 200,000 people having registered for inoculation
- China’s Sinopharm says its vaccine is 79 per cent effective
Jordan said on Saturday it has approved China’s Sinopharm coronavirus vaccine for emergency use, after giving the Pfizer-BioNTech jab the green light.
“Emergency use of the … Sinopharm vaccine against the novel coronavirus has been authorised,” the head of the Jordanian Food and Drug administration, Nizar Mheidat, told state television.
“It is the second vaccine available for use in Jordan, after the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine,” which Jordan approved in December, he told Al-Mamlaka television.
Health ministry Secretary-General Wael Hayajneh said the first batch of Sinopharm would arrive at midnight Saturday, while an initial consignment of the Pfizer vaccine was due on Monday.
“The kingdom has requested several hundred doses of (Sinopharm) and they will arrive in weekly batches,” Hayajneh told Jordan state television Al-Mamlaka.
Jordan also expects to receive at least 200,000 doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine in the first quarter of this year, he added.