China Approves Second Domestic COVID-19 Vaccine

    The approval comes after multiple domestic and overseas trials of the vaccine in countries including Brazil and Turkey
    China's drug authorities have given "conditional" approval for a second COVID-19 vaccine, Sinovac's CoronaVac jab.
    The vaccine has already been rolled out to key groups at higher risk of exposure to coronavirus but Saturday's approval allows for its use on the general public.
    A conditional approval helps hustle emergency drugs to market in cases when clinical trials are yet to meet normal standards but indicate therapies will work.
    The approval comes after multiple domestic and overseas trials of the vaccine in countries including Brazil and Turkey, although "efficacy and safety results need to be further confirmed", Sinovac said in a statement.
    Fellow Chinese pharmaceutical company Sinopharm received a similar conditional green light in December to put its vaccine on the market.
    Sinovac said trials in Brazil had shown around 50 percent efficacy in preventing infection and 80 percent efficacy in preventing cases requiring medical intervention.
    "The results show that the vaccine has good safety and immunogenic effect on people of all age groups," Sinovac said Saturday.
    China's Sinovac Biotech has applied for conditional commercial approval of its COVID-19 vaccine in the country on February 3, the company said Friday. 
    The company released research data from the phase-3 of CoronaVac. In Turkey, the results showed the two-dose vaccine to be 91.25% effective in preventing COVID-19, Sinovac said.
    In Brazil, the vaccine trial results showed a 50.65-percent overall efficacy, while it is 83.7 percent effective in mild cases that needed treatment and 100% effective in preventing severe or death cases .