<p>BRATISLAVA, Slovakia &mdash; Slovakia on Wednesday became the second European Union country to authorize use of the Russian-made Sputnik V vaccine, which has not yet been approved by the bloc’s drug regulator.</p>
<p>The Slovak government asked Health Minister Vladimir Lengvarsky to make the COVID-19 vaccine available by June 7.</p>
<p>Slovakia has 200,000 doses of Sputnik V vaccine in stock but had not allowed its use until now. </p>
<p>Hungary is the only other EU nation to use Sputnik V, which has not been authorized by the European Medicines Agency.</p>
<p>A secret deal for Slovakia to purchase 2 million Sputnik V shots orchestrated by then-Prime Minister Igor Matovic triggered a political crisis in March that resulted in the Slovak government’s collapse.</p>
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