The Covid-19 vaccine developed by Sinovac Biotech has received approval from the World Health Organisation (WHO), media reports said. The health organisation has approved the Sinovac-CoronaVac Covid-19 vaccine for emergency use listing. The decision was made after reviewing the latest clinical data on the Sinovac vaccine’s safety and efficacy as well as the company’s manufacturing practices.
Dr. Mariangela Simao, WHO Assistant Director General for Access to Health Products said, “The world desperately needs multiple Covid-19 vaccines to address the huge access inequity across the globe. We urge manufacturers to participate in the COVAX Facility, share their know-how and data and contribute to bringing the pandemic under control.”
WHO further said in a statement that the Sinovac Covid-9 vaccine has been approved for adults above the age of 18. There is no upper age limit suggested by the organisation in its report.
Sinovac-CoronaVac Covid-19 becomes the eighth vaccine to be approved by the WHO to be used to combat the Covid-19 virus. It is the second Covid-19 vaccine developed by a Chinese company. A vaccine has also been developed by state-owned China National Pharmaceutical Group Corporation, commonly referred to as Sinopharm. It also received approval from the WHO last month.
Recently, it was reported that Hungary will start producing Sinopharm’s Covid-19 vaccine by 2022. Interestingly, Hungary was the first country in the European Union to use both China’s Sinopharm and Russia’s Sputnik V vaccines. However, both of these vaccines still do not have approval from the European Medicines Agency.