A WHO emergency listing is a signal to national regulators that a product is safe and effective. It also allows it to be included in COVAX, a global programme to provide vaccines mainly for poor countries, which has hit supply problems.
"This expands the list of COVID-19 vaccines that COVAX can buy, and gives countries confidence to expedite their own regulatory approval, and to import and administer a vaccine," WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a briefing.
The WHO had already given emergency approval to COVID-19 vaccines developed by Pfizer-BioNTech, AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson and, last week, Moderna.
The decision to approve Sinopharm's vaccine was taken by WHO's technical advisory group, which began meeting on April 26 to review the latest clinical data as well as Sinopharm's manufacturing practices.
A separate group of WHO experts, the Strategic Advisory Group of Experts (SAGE), voiced concern this week over data provided by Sinopharm on the risk of serious side-effects in some patients, but was confident in the vaccine's ability to prevent disease, according to a document reviewed by Reuters.
https://www.khaleejtimes.com/coronavirus-pandemic/who-gives-emergency-approval-to-sinopharm-first-chinese-covid-19-vaccine
