Sinopharm: Chinese-made vaccine gets WHO approval

The World Health Organisation has granted emergency approval for the Chinese made COVID-19 vaccine Sinopharm.

Until now, WHO had only approved the Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson and Moderna.

With little data released internationally early on, the effectiveness of the various Chinese vaccines has long been uncertain.

A number of individual countries in Africa, Latin America and Asia had already approved Chinese vaccines for emergency use.

Sinopharm will be the first non-Western developed vaccine approved by WHO, stating it had "the potential to rapidly accelerate COVID-19 vaccine access for countries seeking to protect health workers and populations at risk".

Another Chinese-made vaccine, Sinovac, has showed an efficient rate of 50.4% during clinical trials in Brazil, but has seen higher efficiency rates in Turkey and Indonesia.

A decision on the Sinovac vaccine is expected within days. Russia’s Sputnik vaccine is currently under assessment.