Vaccines from Chinese laboratories Sinopharm and Sinovac have been shown to be safe and effective against COVID-19, but more data is needed, WHO experts said on Wednesday.
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This assessment was made by the World Health Organization (WHO) Strategic Advisory Group of Experts (SAGE) on immunization which met from March 22 to 25. These experts are responsible in particular for formulating recommendations on vaccination.
In a document summarizing the main points raised during the meeting, experts said that these two Chinese vaccines – which have applied for approval to the WHO – have “demonstrated their safety and good efficacy against COVID-19 when the patient presents symptoms ”.
“But there is a lack of data (…) with regard to the elderly and people suffering from other diseases”, however, they qualified.
He added: once they have been introduced, studies on the efficacy and safety of these two vaccines “will be necessary to assess their effects on these sub-populations”.
The WHO decisions on the registration applications filed by Sinopharm and Sinovac are not expected until at least early April.
The WHO Emergency Procedure (EUL) approval allows countries to expedite their own regulatory approval procedures to import and administer the vaccine. It also allows Unicef to buy the vaccine for distribution to countries in need.
SAGE Group chairman Alejandro Cravioto said experts would wait for the WHO’s decision on their approval before publishing their recommendations on the use of the two Chinese vaccines.
On December 31, 2020, the WHO granted its first emergency approval for the Pfizer-BioNTech anti-Covid vaccine. He did the same, on February 15, for the vaccines developed by AstraZeneca (the one manufactured in South Korea and the one manufactured in India by the Serum Institute of India), and on March 12 for the single-dose one from Johnson & Johnson. .