BEIJING: China’s medical products regulator said on Thursday that it had approved two more COVID-19 vaccines for public use, raising the number of domestically produced Vaccines that can be used in China to four.
The two newly cleared vaccines are made by CanSino Biologics Inc (CanSinoBIO) and Wuhan Institute of Biological Products, an affiliate of China National Pharmaceutical Group (Sinopharm).
They join a vaccine from Sinovac Biotech approved earlier this month, and another from Sinopharm’s Beijing unit approved last year.
Prior to formal approval for wider public use by the National Medical Products Administration, millions of doses of the two Sinopharm vaccines and Sinovac shot had been administered in China’s vaccination program.
The program targets select groups of people facing a higher risk of infection.
CanSinoBIO’s vaccine has been given the green light for use by military personnel.
So far, China has not approved COVID-19 vaccines developed by Western drug makers.
The four approved Chinese vaccines can be stored at normal freezer temperatures – a potential selling point in less affluent countries that might have difficulty deploying vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna that require much colder temperatures for longer-term storage. – Agencies
