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Friday March 29, 2024

WHO approves emergency use of China’s Sinopharm vaccine

By AFP
May 08, 2021

GENEVA: The World Health Organisation on Friday approved the Sinopharm Covid-19 vaccine for emergency use -- the first Chinese jab to receive the WHO’s green light.

The UN health agency signed off on the two-dose vaccine, which is already being deployed in dozens of countries around the world. The WHO has already given emergency use listing to the vaccines being made by Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, Johnson and Johnson, and the AstraZeneca jab being produced at separate sites in India and in South Korea.

"This afternoon, WHO gave emergency use listing to Sinopharm Beijing’s Covid-19 vaccine, making it the sixth vaccine to receive WHO validation for safety, efficacy and quality," WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a news conference. "The Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunisation, or SAGE, has also reviewed the available data, and recommends the vaccine for adults 18 years and older, with a two-dose schedule."

An emergency use listing by the WHO paves the way for countries worldwide to quickly approve and import a vaccine for distribution, especially those states without an international-standard regulator of their own.

It also opens the door for the jabs to enter the Covax global vaccine-sharing scheme, which aims to provide equitable access to doses around the world and particularly in poorer countries. The Sinopharm vaccine is already in use in 42 territories around the world, fourth behind AstraZeneca (166), Pfizer-BioNTech (94) and Moderna (46), according to an AFP tally.

Besides China, it is being used in Algeria, Cameroon, Egypt, Hungary, Iraq, Iran, Pakistan, Peru, the United Arab Emirates, Serbia and Seychelles, among others. A clutch of other vaccines are on the road towards WHO emergency use listing, including a second Sinopharm product being made in Wuhan -- the city where coronavirus was first detected.

A decision is expected within days on Sinovac, a second Chinese-made vaccine already being used in 22 countries. Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine is the next furthest ahead in the process.Meanwhile, a coronavirus state of emergency in Tokyo and other parts of Japan was extended on Friday, less than three months before the Olympics, as India logged yet another record number of infections.

While many Western nations have begun a gradual opening-up -- Germany on Friday declared that a recent surge of infections had been "broken" -- much of the world continues to battle a virus that has now claimed more than 3.2 million lives.

Japan’s Covid-19 outbreak remains much smaller than in many countries, with around 10,500 deaths. But its vaccine rollout is moving slowly and more infectious variants are driving fresh waves of contagion, with record case numbers seen in some regions and medics warning that hospitals are under strain.

The pandemic has disrupted test events for the upcoming Olympics, with several postponed, cancelled or moved abroad, although the Diving World Cup and a rowing qualifier went ahead this week in Tokyo with athletes from abroad.

The emergency measures, less strict than blanket lockdowns in other countries, had been due to end on May 11 but will now continue until the end of the month, Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said.

"The number of new virus cases is at a high level in major cities, while hospitals continue to be overwhelmed in Osaka and Hyogo prefectures," he said. The recent surge has forced Olympic torch relays off Japan’s roads, with the world’s oldest person, a Japanese woman aged 118, giving up her spot in the event.Greece will reopen private beaches on Saturday and museums next week, health officials said Friday as the tourism-dependent country gears up for a May 15 travel restart.