China’s Sinopharm Covid-19 vaccine has become the sixth vaccine to be approved by WHO for emergency use and is the first Chinese jab to receive the WHO’s green light.
WHO approved the two-dose vaccine, which is already being deployed in dozens of countries around the world on May 7.
The other vaccines being approved by the WHO are Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, Johnson and Johnson, and the AstraZeneca jab being produced at separate sites in India and in South Korea.
The Sinopharm vaccine is in use in 42 territories around the world and fourth behind AstraZeneca (166), Pfizer-BioNTech (94) and Modern-a (46), according to an AFP tally.
It is also being used in counties like Algeria, Cameroon, Egypt, Hungary, Iraq, Iran, Pakistan, Peru, UAE, Serbia and Seychelles, among others besides China.
.“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.