BUENOS AIRES, Dec. 30 (Xinhua) -- Argentina's National Administration of Drugs, Foods and Medical Devices (ANMAT) on Wednesday approved the use of vaccine from AstraZeneca, a multinational pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical company, against COVID-19 in the country.

ANMAT announced the authorization in a statement, noting that "the product has an acceptable benefit-risk balance, which allows for the granting of its registration and conditional approval."

It also emphasized that the authorization is on an emergency basis solely as a prescription for one year.

"It must comply with the risk management plan established to closely monitor the safety and efficacy of the vaccine, as well as submit progress reports, modifications and updates to the National Institute of Drugs," the statement added.

This is Argentina's third authorization of a vaccine against COVID-19, following the approval of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine on Dec. 22, and the Russian Sputnik V vaccine on Dec. 23.

On Tuesday, Argentina began to vaccinate its population against the disease with the first 300,000 doses of the Sputnik V vaccine, which arrived last week.

The South American country registered its first case of COVID-19 on March 3, reporting a total of 1,602,163 cases and 43,018 deaths as of Tuesday.

The Argentine government has extended mandatory social distancing measures until Jan. 31, 2021 to control the pandemic.