Asia-West / Mid-East / North-Africa

Egypt has approved Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine against COVID-19, becoming the 34th country outside of Russia and third in North Africa to do so.

The World Bank’s reallocation of $34 million enabled Lebanon to receive its first two batches of about 60,000 Pfizer-BioNTech doses this month.

Israel is leading the world with its COVID-19 vaccine rollout and it’s already seeing results, but the campaign has been met with some hesitant demographics and criticism for not vaccinating Palestinians.

Saudi Arabia’s food and drug administration has approved the COVID vaccine made by AstraZeneca, state TV reported on Thursday.

Gaza, where 2 million people live, has reported more than 53,000 coronavirus cases and 538 deaths.

The latest batch of AstraZeneca vaccines follows 2 million doses received last month and 500,000 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine developed by Sinopharm.

With Lebanon's economy in a tailspin and the coronavirus pandemic wreaking chaos, panic-buying has gripped pharmacies, creating shortages and a flourishing black market.

The Russian vaccine, Sputnik V, was named after the first satellite to orbit the earth, which the Soviet Union launched in 1957.

The shipment was flown into Israel and transported from there to Ramallah, the Palestinian hub city in the occupied West Bank.

The WHO set up COVAX along with the GAVI vaccine alliance to ensure equitable access to COVID-19 vaccinations globally.

The vaccines were transferred to the occupied West Bank and will be used by Palestinian Authority medical teams, according to a statement from COGAT, Israel’s military liaison to the Palestinians.

State-owned DP World, known for its global port operations, will provide transport and storage to UNICEF at no cost, helping low and middle-income countries access vaccines, a joint statement said.

Bahrain has approved the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use, state news agency BNA reported on Monday, citing the Gulf country’s National Health Regulatory Authority.

Turkey’s competition board imposes fines on the Turkish units of pharmaceutical companies Novartis and Roche for trying to popularize a more expensive medicine used for eye diseases over a cheaper one.

The new shipment adds to an initial consignment of three million doses which Turkey received nearly a month ago.