WHO approves Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use

WHO approves Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use

VIDEO: WHO approves Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use

5 hours ago

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The World Health Organisation (WHO) 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 sites in India and in South Korea, which it counts separately.

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 a media tally.

Besides China, it is being used in the United Arab Emirates, Algeria, Cameroon, Egypt, Hungary, Iraq, Iran, Pakistan, Peru, Serbia and the Seychelles, among others.

"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