PHNOM PENH: The Kingdom of Cambodia has issued an Emergency Use Authorisation (EUA) for Russia-made Sputnik V vaccine against COVID-19. The EUA certificate for Sputnik V, manufactured by R-Pharm Russia, was signed on Friday by the Minister of Health, Mam Bunheng.

The ministry also granted EUAs to four other Russian COVID-19 vaccines, including CoviVac of Chumakov Centre, Sputnik-Light of Gamaleya Institute, EpiVacCorona of Scientific Research Institute of Molecular Biology (IMB SRC Vector), and EpiVacCorona of State Research Centre of Virology and Biotechnology.

Sputnik V’s endorsement process has been moving at a very slow pace. The vaccine is also coined the forgotten vaccine. Despite all the hype and promises, Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine has made few inroads in Southeast Asia. Sputnik V has made better progress in Thailand’s ASEAN neighbors, Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar, and the Philippines. And now, it will soon be used for emergency in the Kingdom.

Cambodia issued EUA for China-manufactured Sinopharm and Sinovac vaccines, and the AstraZeneca developed by the University of Oxford in February this year.

As of 28 October, 85.61 percent of Cambodia’s total population of 16 million have been vaccinated against the COVID-19 pandemic.