The Sinovac vaccine has already been sold to at least 10 other countries and is being administered to people in at least five other countries.
Amidst the COVID-19 vaccine roll out to break the transmission chain of novel coronavirus which has taken the whole world in its grip, China on Saturday gave broader approval for their homemade Sinovac Biotech's vaccine.
According to the reports, the vaccine regulators gave conditional approval for Sinovac Biotech Ltd's shot, Coronvac, making it available for the common public.
The Sinovac Biotech Ltd's coronavirus vaccine shot - Coronvac has already been sold to at least 10 other countries and is being administered to people in at least five other countries.
What is conditional approval? This type of approval means the vaccine can now be administered to the general public or the commoners, even though the research is still ongoing. However, the company will be required to keep a full track of the vaccine receivers and submit a follow-up data as well as report if there is any adverse side effects of the vaccine.
It is the second locally-made vaccine to be given conditional approval. Beijing authorised the state-owned Sinopharm's vaccine in December.
Both Sinovac's shot and Sinopharm's shot are two-dose inactivated vaccines, relying on traditional technology that makes it easier to transport and store than Pfizer's vaccines, which require ultracold storage. That could make a difference for developing countries that have fewer resources.
Sinovac's vaccine, however, has also been subject to intense scrutiny and criticism for lack of transparency. It has announced different efficacy data in different countries across the world. Officials in Turkey, where part of stage 3 clinical trials was staged, have said the efficacy rate was 91.25 per cent.
But in a much bigger trial in Brazil, officials there initially announced an efficacy rate of 78 per cent, but revised that down to just over 50 per cent after including mild infections. The Brazil segment of the trial enrolled 12,396. volunteers, and recorded 253 infections, the company said in a statement Friday.
Its stage 3 clinical trials were held in Brazil, Chile, Indonesia and Turkey, with a total of 25,000 volunteers.
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