China approves second Coronavirus vaccine CoronaVac

▴ China approves second Coronavirus vaccine CoronaVac
Sinovac's Coronavac jab is the second vaccine to be approved by Chinese authorities

China's drug authorities have given "conditional" approval for a second Covid-19 vaccine, Sinovac's CoronaVac jab, the pharmaceutical company said Saturday.

The vaccine has already been rolled out to key groups at higher risk of exposure to coronavirus but Saturday's approval allows for its use on the general public.

A conditional approval helps hustle emergency drugs to market in cases when clinical trials are yet to meet normal standards but indicate therapies will work.

The approval comes after multiple domestic and overseas trials of the vaccine in countries including Brazil and Turkey, although "efficacy and safety results need to be further confirmed", Sinovac said in a statement.

Fellow Chinese pharmaceutical company Sinopharm received a similar conditional green light in December to put its vaccine on the market.

Sinovac said trials in Brazil had shown around 50 per cent efficacy in preventing infection and 80 percent efficacy in preventing cases requiring medical intervention.

"The results show that the vaccine has good safety and immunogenic effect on people of all age groups," Sinovac said Saturday.

Meanwhile, Sinopharm said in December that its vaccine had a 79.34 per cent efficacy rate, lower than rival jabs developed in the West by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna -- with 95 and 94 per cent rates respectively.

China has been racing to develop homegrown jabs and aims to vaccinate 50 million people before the start of the Lunar New Year in mid-February.

The holiday normally spurs a travel rush with hundreds of millions traversing the country -- though authorities are encouraging people to stay home this year through a mixture of restrictions and incentives.

As China ramps up its vaccine campaign, authorities have repeatedly assured the public of the jab's safety and efficacy, despite not releasing any detailed clinical trial data.

At the same time, Beijing has been promoting its vaccines abroad in what analysts have called "vaccine diplomacy" to earn goodwill after facing criticism for its early handling of the outbreak.

China's foreign ministry on Wednesday said it planned to provide 10 million vaccine doses to the WHO-backed international vaccine distribution programme Covax.

Beijing has also pledged to share the vaccine at a fair cost -- a potential boost for poorer Asian countries who are otherwise reliant on limited distribution offered by the Covax scheme.

Countries including Senegal, Indonesia, and Hungary have procured millions of vaccine doses from Chinese pharmaceutical firms.

But take-up has been slower abroad for Chinese vaccines compared to jabs from Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna, as little information has been published about the safety or efficacy of Chinese vaccines.

Chinese vaccine makers also have chequered reputations, after major scandals at home involving expired or poor quality products.

Story Courtesy

www.indiatoday.com 

AFP

Tags : #Coronavac #Sinovac #CoronavacJab #ChineseVaccines #ChinaVaccineNews #Beijing #Covaxin #Covax #VaccineDiplomacy #WHO

About the Author


Team Medicircle

Related Stories

Loading Please wait...

-Advertisements-




Trending Now

Is Your Cooking Oil Poisoning You? The Truth About Seed OilsMarch 11, 2025
Think Before You Bite: How Fatty Foods Can Trigger Brain Damage in Just 3 DaysMarch 11, 2025
Ditch the Pills: The Secret to Beating Insomnia is in Your WorkoutMarch 11, 2025
The University of Tasmania invites applications for Master of Public HealthMarch 11, 2025
CBM India Celebrates International Women's Day with Free Eye Screening in HyderabadMarch 11, 2025
Is patriarchy petrifying governments to deliver on gender equality?March 11, 2025
Change happens when gender inequality survivors join hands to stop TB March 10, 2025
Arogya World Hosts #RunInRed With 1500+ Bengalureans To Raise Awareness on Women’s Heart HealthMarch 10, 2025
Sharda Group Launches Sharda Care - Healthcity, a State-of-the-Art Facility with Smart Infrastructure in Greater NoidaMarch 10, 2025
Can Just Three Days of Junk Food Harm Your Brain? Science Says YesMarch 08, 2025
Your Night Shifts Might Be Damaging Your DNA: Here’s How to Fight BackMarch 08, 2025
India’s Women: Empowered on Paper, Struggling in RealityMarch 08, 2025
NephroPlus to Launch Nationwide Free Health Screening Campaign to Commemorate World Kidney Day 2025 March 07, 2025
Skinny But Sick? Is our Body Mass Index Misleading UsMarch 07, 2025
Scientists Stumble Upon a Cancer-Fighting Secret Hidden in Your Medicine CabinetMarch 07, 2025
The Bitter Truth About Butter: Is our Favourite Spread Cutting our Life Short?March 07, 2025
March 07, 2025
March 06, 2025
University of Leeds scientists offer hope for people facing chronic painMarch 06, 2025
Impact of excessive use of gym supplements on gym enthusiastsMarch 06, 2025