Bahraini authorities have authorised the use of a booster dose of the Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine, the first time the Russian shot has been approved for a third dose, the state-run Bahrain News Agency said on Saturday.
The booster shot was approved for use among all over-18s at least six months after receiving their second dose of the Sputnik V vaccine, the news agency reported.
Bahrain has already approved third booster shots using the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.
The small island nation's COVID-19 infections are decreasing, currently at 3% of their peak with 95 new infections reported on average each day, according to the Reuters COVID-19 Tracker.
There have been 272,709 infections and 1,388 coronavirus-related deaths reported in Bahrain, which has a population of roughly 1.7 million according to the World Bank.
So far nearly 2.5 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered, enough to inoculate about 76% of the population, assuming each person needs two doses.
US waives Iran sanctions, Trump warns Tehran it must abide by agreement
Forty drown in France as people seek relief from heatwave
Israeli gunfire kills two people in south Lebanon, civil defence says
Russian strikes injure six in Ukraine as fuel crisis deepens into Siberia
Congo says confirmed Ebola cases rise to 1,048, including 267 deaths
