China Approves Use Of Its First Covid Vaccine

CHINA approves the use if its first self-developed Covid vaccine

China announced on Thursday, December 31 that it had granted conditional approval for its first Covid-19 vaccine, developed by state-backed pharmaceutical giant Sinopharm. The jab was authorised by the National Medical Products Administration (NMPA).

Sinopharm confirmed on Wednesday that Phase 3 clinical trials found the drug to be 79 per cent effective against Covid-19, which is lower than rival jabs developed by Pfizer and Moderna but still meets the standards set by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the NMPA.

“This vaccine will be provided free of charge to all Chinese people,” said Zeng Yixin, deputy head of the National Health Commission (NHC), at a press conference.

While the safety of Chinese vaccines has been met with scepticism in other areas of the world, the country launched a vaccination programme on December 15 and has so far vaccinated over 3 million people in key groups.

“The 3 million vaccine doses, plus the previous 1.5 million doses, fully prove that Chinese vaccines are safe,” Zeng said.

On the same day China has announced the approval of the vaccine, Chinese state media has reported the first cases of the new Covid variant first detected in the UK.

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