WHO experts give nod to China jabs, boosting global vaccine drive

WHO experts give nod to China jabs, boosting global vaccine drive

GENEVA “” Two Chinese coronavirus jabs are safe and effective, WHO experts said Wednesday after reviewing partial data, providing a potential boost to countries from Australia to Europe struggling to roll out vaccines fast enough.

Fewer than 600 million jabs have been given out across the world, three months after vaccination programmes began in earnest in Western countries and leaders hailed the drugs as the only safe way out of punishing lockdowns.

Vaccine specialists at the World Health Organisation did not issue any advice on how to use China's jabs, saying they would wait until a decision had been taken on whether to grant them emergency licences.

The experts said the vaccines from Sinovac and Sinopharm "lacked data" for older age groups and people with medical conditions other than COVID.

Another vaccine maker, Pfizer-BionTech, was pushing ahead with its plans to ramp up production and rollout “” saying on Wednesday new data from the US showed its jab was 100 per cent effective on 12 to 15-year-olds.

The firm said it wanted to start vaccinating youngsters in the US before the start of the next school year.

The US has already rolled out almost 150 million vaccines doses, far more than any other country. But it