WHO approves China’s Sinovac Covid-19 vaccine

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has approved the Sinovac Covid-19 vaccine for emergency use — the second Chinese jab to receive the WHO’s green light.

“WHO today validated the Sinovac-CoronaVac Covid-19 vaccine for emergency use, giving countries, funders, procuring agencies, and communities the assurance that it meets international standards for safety, efficacy, and manufacturing,” the UN health agency said in a statement.

The Sinovac vaccine is being administered across Pakistan.

On Sunday (30 May), Pakistan International Airlines (PIA)’s special flight PK 6852 transported a batch of 500,000 doses of Sinovac vaccine from the Beijing Capital International Airport to Islamabad.

Similarly, a week earlier, a special flight — PK 6853 — had transported a consignment of two million doses of Sinovac vaccine procured from China to fight the ongoing wave of COVID-19 in Pakistan.

Pakistan has so far received over 13 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines including Sinopharm, Sinovac and CanSino procured from China and others obtained through the global COVAX vaccine-sharing programme.