The World Health Organization (WHO) on Friday approved a COVID-19 vaccine developed and manufactured by China’s state-owned drugmaker Sinopharm for emergency use.
It’s the first coronavirus vaccine developed by a non-Western country to get WHO’s approval.
This is also the first-ever Chinese vaccine for any infectious disease to be given the nod for emergency use by the global health body.
Emergency listing by WHO signifies a product’s safety and efficacy, and allows the vaccine to be included in COVAX — the global programme which provides vaccines mainly for poor countries.
The other COVID vaccines WHO earlier granted emergency approval are the ones developed by Pfizer-BioNTech, AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson and Moderna.
Sinipharm’s vaccine is one of two from China that have already been administered to millions of people in China and other countries.
