Argentina on Friday approved the emergency use of the single-dose COVID-19 vaccine developed by Cansino Biologics Inc., aiming to bolster its portfolio of critical jabs as the country faces a harsh second wave of the disease, further complicating its recovery from a lengthy recession.

The health ministry said in a statement that Argentina had signed an agreement for the delivery of 5.4 million doses of the vaccine, adding delivery would "advance depending on their availability."

At present, Argentina with a population of 45 million, is reporting the third highest number of new infections each day behind India and Brazil, according to Reuters data, and has registered a total of almost 85,000 deaths from the disease and 4.1 million cases.

Using a combination of the Russian-developed Sputnik V vaccine, the vaccine by Chinese pharmaceutical company Sinopharm and another developed by AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford, it has so far inoculated 12.6 million people with at least one dose and 3.2 million people with two, with the pace picking up in recent months as vaccine delivery has accelerated.