Chinese authorities have expanded the launch of their nationally manufactured Sinovac coronavirus vaccine so that other people, in addition to high-risk and priority groups, can receive it.
Regulators gave conditional approval for the injection of Sinovac Biotech Ltd, CoronaVac, on Friday, the National Medical Products Administration said on Saturday.
The Sinovac vaccine is now available in at least 10 other countries and is being administered in at least five other countries. The shot received emergency approval in China last July for medical workers and employees of state-owned companies, among others, AP reported.
The research is still ongoing in Sinovac, however. The company must provide data, as well as reports of any adverse effects after the vaccine is sold on the market.
Sinovac officials were accused of lack of transparency due to conflicting data on the effectiveness of their vaccine in different countries. Officials in Turkey, where part of the stage 3 clinical trials were carried out, said the effectiveness rate was 91.25%.
But a study in Brazil showed that the Sinovac vaccine was only 50 percent effective.
Last month, China fueled fears about the safety of Pfizer’s COVID-19 injection to avoid controversy over its own vaccine, according to a report.
So far, the company has released only stage 1 and 2 data for its vaccine.
Complete clinical trial data for stage 3 will be released later in a peer-reviewed journal, Sinovac officials said.