China Approves Sinopharm COVID Vaccine for General Use

China has given conditional approval to its first COVID-19 vaccine for general use. The indigenous vaccine developed by Sinopharm is 79.34% efficacious in preventing disease, the company said on Wednesday, 30 December based on interim analysis from phase 3 trials.

Detailed data and results are yet to be made public. According to a Sinopharm official, detailed data would be released later and published in Chinese and foreign medical journals, reported Reuters.

Notably, China has been vaccinating some citizens for months already as part of its emergency use programme launched in July, focused at essential workers and those at high-risk.

By 15 December, more than 4.5 million doses had been administered in the country, according to a report by Reuters.

Earlier this month, the United Arab Emirates became the first country to roll out the Sinopharm vaccine to the public and Pakistan announced a 1.2 million dose purchase deal with the company.

While the efficacy of the vaccine is lesser than the one observed with the candidates developed by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna (above 90% for both), the development comes as positive news for the developing world that has limited access to the latter two. Moreover, the Sinopharm vaccine is an inactivated vaccine and can be stored at normal fridge temperature, as opposed to the severe cold chain requirements by Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech.

Dong-yan Jin, a professor at the University of Hong Kong, told Reuters,

“China’s approval could boost the credibility of the vaccine. But if the vaccine wants to take a share in the global market, especially in developed countries, more data is necessary.”

Dong-yan Jin

“We call on people ... to take an active part in vaccination to protect themselves, family members and others, which is also contributing to global epidemic control,” Zeng Yixin, an official with National Health Commission, told a briefing on Thursday.

(With inputs from Reuters)