By Jerry Omondi
The World Health Organization (WHO) has validated the CoronaVac COVID-19 vaccine developed by Chinese pharmaceutical company Sinovac Biotech for emergency use.
“Today, I’m happy to announce that the Sinovac-CoronaVac vaccine has been given WHO Emergency Use Listing after being found to be safe, effective and quality assured following two doses of the inactivated vaccine,” said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom on Tuesday.
Tedros hailed the Chinese-manufactured vaccine as being suitable for developing countries that still have poor infrastructure.
“The easy storage requirements of CoronaVac make it very suitable for low-resource settings. It is now the eighth vaccine to receive Emergency Use Listing by WHO. It’s now crucial to get these lifesaving tools to the people that need them quickly.”
Sinovac is the second Chinese vaccine to gain approval from the WHO, after Sinopharm was given the global body’s official support on May 11.
The main Sinovac Biotech trials took place in Chile, Turkey, Indonesia and Brazil.
Results in Chile showed the vaccine provides significant protection against COVID-19 infection and is more effective in preventing severe cases. Of those who were given the drug, 67 percent avoided symptomatic infection and it was 80 percent effective in limiting the number of deaths from the disease, according to a report released by Chile’s Ministry of Health.
