French-Austrian biotech firm Valneva said its Covid-19 vaccine received emergency authorisation for use in Bahrain, the first approval for its jab.

Valneva committed to supplying the Gulf kingdom with one million doses in an advance purchase agreement last year and plans to deliver the first batches at the end of March, AFP reports.

The jab, which uses the traditional technology of an inactivated virus, “will offer an alternative vaccine to the Bahraini population and medical community”, said Valneva president Thomas Lingelbach.