Chile approves emergency use of Russian Sputnik V vaccine against COVID-19

«The safety results obtained in all the studies show that the vaccine has a good safety profile,» with mild and moderate adverse effects that did not require medical intervention, Heriberto Garcia, acting director of the Institute of Public Health, said at a press conference.

The approval of the vaccine for those 18 and over «adds one more alternative for the supply of vaccines against COVID-19 in our country,» said Garcia.

The institute's committee of experts has approved vaccines from Chinese pharmaceutical firms CanSino and Sinovac, as well as Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer-BioNTech and AstraZeneca.

As of Tuesday, 12,529,720 people have been vaccinated with a first dose and 11,758,626 people have been fully vaccinated, according to the Chilean Ministry of Health.

The government's goal is to immunize over 15.2 million people, or 80 percent of the population, to achieve herd immunity.

The ministry on Wednesday reported a total of 1,602,854 confirmed cases and 34,611 deaths from the disease.