Bahrain has granted emergency use authorisation to the Covid-19 vaccine developed by France's Valneva, the company said in a statement.

Valneva expects to deliver the first shipments of its VLA2001 vaccine to the kingdom at the end of March, after it signed an advance purchase deal for one million doses in December last year.

“As the only dual-adjuvanted, inactivated Covid-19 vaccine approved in Bahrain, VLA2001 will provide a differentiated vaccine option to the Bahraini population and medical community,” said CEO Thomas Lingelbach.