The Egyptian Drug Authority (EDA) announced in a statement on Wednesday that Egypt has approved the emergency use of the Russian-made Sputnik V vaccine, making it the third vaccine to be authorised for use in the country.

In January, Egypt approved the emergency use of the Chinese Sinopharm vaccine. The country has also approved the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine, which was manufactured by India's Serum Institute and marketed as Covishield in the Asian country.

The EDA, the country's drug regulator, said it has also authorised the emergency use of the AstraZeneca AZD 1222 vaccine, which is produced in South Korea.

The statement added that both vaccines have undergone the necessary evaluation in EDA laboratories in accordance with international and domestic standards for safety, quality and effectiveness.

The Egyptian government has been in talks with different international entities to boost its supply of COVID-19 vaccines and to secure a total of 100 million doses of vaccines approved by the World Health Organization.

Egypt has so far received 350,000 doses of the Sinopharm vaccine and 50,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine.The Sputnik vaccines have not arrived in Egypt, but in September 2020, Russia's sovereign wealth fund said it had agreed to supply Egypt with 25 million doses.

Hundreds of medical workers in Egypt have been inoculated using the Chinese Sinopharm vaccine as part of the first step of the country’s vaccination campaign, which began in mid-January, with new segments to be inoculated within the first week of March.

The country's vaccination campaign aims to cover close to 65 percent of citizens under the age of 30 and around 40 million of those who are above that age by the end of 2021, according to Minister Zayed.