The emergency use of Sinopharm’s Chinese vaccine has been approved by the World Health Organization (WHO), becoming the sixth vaccine to receive WHO validation for safety, efficacy and quality.
“The addition of this vaccine has the potential to rapidly accelerate access to the Covid-19 vaccine for countries seeking to protect healthcare workers and populations at risk,” said Mariangela Simão, WHO Deputy Director-General for access to health products. “We urge the manufacturer to participate in the Covax Facility and contribute to the goal of a more equitable distribution of vaccines.”
Sinopharm is a vaccine based on the inactivated Sars-CoV-2 coronavirus. Its easy-to-keep requirements make it particularly suitable for poor countries, highlights the WHO.
The Geneva agency recommends the vaccine for adults 18 years of age and older, in a two-dose schedule with an interval of 3 to 4 weeks between each other. Vaccine efficacy for symptomatic and hospitalized disease was estimated at 79%, all age groups combined.