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WHO approves Sinovac vaccines emergency use

by Bustop TV News

By Lerato Ndlovu

World Health Organization (WHO) has given the greenlight for the Chinese Sinovac vaccine

WHO said the Sinovac-CoronaVac COVID-19 vaccine is validated for emergency use, giving countries, funders, procuring agencies and communities stating it meets international standards for safety, efficacy and manufacturing.

WHO Assistant-Director General for Access to Health Products, Dr Mariângela Simão said the move will address the shortage of vaccines in the world.

“The world desperately needs multiple COVID-19 vaccines to address the huge access inequity across the globe. 

“We urge manufacturers to participate in the COVAX Facility, share their know how and data and contribute to bringing the pandemic under control.”

The statement went on to read that WHO’s Emergency Use Listing (EUL) is a prerequisite for COVAX Facility vaccine supply and international procurement, that allows countries to expedite their own regulatory approval to import and administer COVID-19 vaccines.

“The EUL assesses the quality, safety and efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines, as well as risk management plans and programmatic suitability, such as cold chain requirements”.

The assessment is performed by the product evaluation group, composed of regulatory experts from around the world and a Technical Advisory Group (TAG), in charge of performing the risk-benefit assessment for an independent recommendation on whether a vaccine can be listed for emergency use and under which conditions.

“In the case of the Sinovac-CoronaVac vaccine, the WHO assessment included on-site inspections of the production facility.

“The Sinovac-CoronaVac product is an inactivated vaccine. Its easy storage requirements make it very manageable and particularly suitable for low-resource settings,” it read.

WHO’s Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization (SAGE) on the  review of the vaccine stated that it can be used on adults 18 years and older, in a two-dose schedule with a spacing of two to four weeks.

Vaccine efficacy results showed that the vaccine prevented symptomatic disease in 51% of those vaccinated and prevented severe COVID-19 and hospitalization in 100% of the studied population.

WHO stated that it is not recommending an upper age limit for the vaccine because data collected during subsequent use in multiple countries and supportive immunogenicity data suggest the vaccine is likely to have a protective effect in older persons.

“There is no reason to believe that the vaccine has a different safety profile in older and younger populations.

“WHO recommends that countries using the vaccine in older age groups conduct safety and effectiveness monitoring to verify the expected impact and contribute to making the recommendation more robust for all countries” it read.

The vaccine is produced by the Beijing-based pharmaceutical company, Sinovac.

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