Chinese state-owned company Sinopharm has received emergency approval for their COVId-19 vaccine from the World Health Organization.
It is the first non-Western country to receive WHO's backing despite receiving scrutiny for not releasing detailed data about its efficacy and safety before it was even used.
According to SCMP, a multi-country phase 3 trial run with the United Arab Emirates has shown that the vaccine has a 78% efficacy rate. A separate assessment of the WHO's Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunisation (SAGE) showed that two doses of Sinopharm's COVID-19 vaccine were effective in adults.
On Friday, May 7, WHO said that it had validated the "safety, efficacy and quality" of the Sinopharm's COVID-19 vaccine. They added that it has the potential to accelerate access to the COVID-19 vaccine.
Syringes are seen on the line in the packaging area of Sinopharm CNBG's inactivated SARS-Cov-2 vaccine for COVID-19 during a media tour organized by the State Council Information Office on February 26, 2021, in Beijing, China. Sinopharm, one of Chinas largest state-owned biotech companies, says it is able to ramp up production to one billion doses in 2021. (Photo by Kevin Frayer/Getty Images)
What Does WHO's Emergency Approval Mean?
BBC News reported that the green light from the WHO is a guideline for countries that the Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine is safe and effective.
That also means that the vaccine could be used in the global Covax program that was set up to make sure not only rich countries but as well as poor countries could have fair access to COVID-19 vaccines.
Sinopharm's COVID-19 vaccine has been widely used with an estimated 65 million doses administered even before WHO's emergency approval. China, the UAE, Pakistan, and Hungary were just some of the countries that have used the Sinopharm vaccine.
The assessment by WHO's SAGE noted that few adults over the age of 60 were included in the clinical trials but they said that the vaccine's efficacy could be no different than in older recipients.
SAGE is responsible for issuing recommendations about the use of COVID-19 vaccines in different groups. However, it does not decide whether these vaccines are licensed.
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WHO To Decide on Giving Approval to China's Sinovac
Experts at the UN health agency said that they are still waiting for additional information before making a recommendation on another Chinese vaccine made by Sinovac Biotech. Similarly, millions have also received the vaccine that has been shipped to other countries as well that permitted its use.
Reuters reported that WHO could reach their final decision on Sinovac's COVID-19 vaccine emergency approval by next week. The technical experts from SAGE have already started reviewing China's other main COVID-19 vaccine since Wednesday, May 5.
"We have started to review the report from Sinovac. We actually requested additional information to the manufacturer ... which we hope to receive very soon to make a decision," said WHO's head of technical advisory group Arnaud Didierlaurent.
Sinovac has shipped over 300 million doses of their vaccine worldwide and in China, wherein both they and Sinopharm have exported to countries in Latin America, Asia, and Africa. These are mostly the countries that have difficulty in securing COVID-19 vaccines developed from Western countries.
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