Slovakia has become the second European Union country to administer the Russian-made Sputnik V vaccine.
Slovakia has 200,000 doses of Sputnik V vaccine available and approved its use on May 26. But so far, only about 5,000 people have registered to receive the two-shot vaccine in the nation of 5.4 million.
Hungary was the first 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.
Slovakia has been administering the Pfizer, Moderna and AstraZeneca jabs, and will also use Johnson & Johnson. All of those vaccines have been authorized by EMA.
Sputnik V is administered to people 18 to 60 and is available in eight vaccination centers.
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