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Fri, Mar

COVID-19: China Approves 1st Homegrown Vaccine

Middle East & Asia News
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China has disclosed that it has approved its first homegrown COVID-19 vaccine, Sinopharm developed by the Beijing Institute of Biological Products, for general use, making it an addition to the vaccines currently in use to fight the global pandemic. The approval comes after the Country launched a vaccination campaign ahead of the upcoming Lunar New Year holiday in February. This alongside Britain’s inexpensive AstraZeneca vaccine will give poorer countries access to the vaccine after the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines have been snapped up by richer countries.

Though the Sinopharm vaccine was granted conditional approval, meaning research is still ongoing, Pakistan has said it will buy 1.2 million doses of the vaccine.


The Sinopharm Company announced that the vaccine at the last trial stage showed 79.3 percent effectiveness. However, final proof of effectiveness will be on published data.


"This is different in every country but the general thinking is that it has to reach 60% to protect the entire population," said Zeng Yixin, vice-minister of the National Health Commission.


Meanwhile, the vaccine is currently under mass production.

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