WHO grants China's COVID vaccine 'CoronaVac' EUA approval; 2nd Chinese vaccine to get nod

Weeks after Sinopharm's approval, the World Health Organization (WHO) has backed China's Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine, making it the second Chinese vaccine to receive the global body's nod. As per news agencies, China's CoronaVac vaccine, produced by Sinovac, has received WHO's approval for Emergency Use Authorization across the globe. Sinovac is a Beijing-based biopharmaceutical company that has produced the CoronaVac, an inactivated vaccine that works by using killed viral particles to expose the body's immune system to the virus, unlike the mRNA vaccines. 

Sinovac's COVID vaccine, which is already in circulation across parts of the world, can be stored at 2-8 degrees Celsius making it advantageous when compared to Moderna and Pfizer's COVID vaccines which require specific cold chain storages. As per a report in China's state-owned Global Times, Sinovac's COVID vaccine has an efficacy rate of 95% in China whereas a 50.7% efficacy in preventing symptomatic infections in Brazil. The WHO backing of COVID vaccines would allow countries to expedite their own regulatory approval. 

Meanwhile, Global Times on Tuesday reported that China had supplied the first batch of Chinese COVID vaccines to COVAX. 

Sinovac Says Its Vaccine Is Safe For Children 

As per news agency AP, Sinovac has said that its COVID-19 vaccine is safe in children ages 3-17, based on preliminary data, and it has submitted the data to Chinese drug regulators. More than 70 million shots of Sinovac’s vaccine have been given worldwide, including in China. China has approved its use in adults but it has not yet been used in children, because their immune systems may respond differently to the vaccine.

Early and mid-stage clinical trials with over 550 subjects showed the vaccine would induce an immune response, Gang Zeng, the medical director at Sinovac, said at a news conference. Two recipients developed high fevers in response to the vaccine, one a 3-year-old and the other a 6-year-old. The rest of the trial subjects experienced mild symptoms, Zeng said.

Egypt To Make 2 million Doses Of Sinovac Vaccine 

Egypt said Sunday it expects to become a regional centre able to manufacture and export a COVID-19 vaccine to the African continent. Egyptian Health Minister Hala Zayed told a news conference on Sunday it expected a shipment of raw materials on the 18th  that would enable it to manufacture millions of doses of the Chinese Sinovac vaccine. Zayed also said Egypt is open to partnering with Russia to produce the Sputnik V vaccine through a factory built in October.