<p>China has granted conditional approval for its second Covid-19 vaccine, ahead of the expected emergency approval from the WHO for two of its jabs that would enable the country to step-up global supplies of the shots.</p>.<p>China's drug regulator has given approval for the conditional mass use of the coronavirus vaccine produced by Chinese pharmaceutical firm Sinovac Biotech.</p>.<p>Sinovac Biotech announced on Saturday that CoronaVac, an inactivated vaccine candidate against Covid-19, received authorisation from the National Medical Products Administration for conditional mass use in China.</p>.<p>It is the second locally made vaccine to be given conditional approval. Beijing authorised the state-owned Sinopharm's vaccine in December.</p>.<p>The conditional approval was based on the results of the overseas Phase-III clinical trials of CoronaVac. Final data from the trials has not been made available yet and the results of its efficacy and safety require further confirmation, state-run Global Times said, quoting a Sinovac statement.</p>.<p>The World Health Organisation (WHO) on Friday said two Chinese vaccines are "in a very advanced stage" of its Emergency Use Listing Procedure (EUL) assessment.</p>.<p>The vaccines, produced by Sinovac and Sinopharm, are among the four vaccines in very advanced phase of approval, Mariangela Simao, assistant WHO Director-General for Access to Medicines, Vaccines and Pharmaceuticals, said in Geneva.</p>.<p>A team of experts from the WHO are now already in China, and they "will start inspections next week" as they are currently in quarantine, she said.</p>.<p>So far, only the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine has received EUL approval. Two other vaccines -- Britain's AstraZeneca and South Korea's SK Bioscience -- are also being assessed, Simao said.</p>.<p>According to WHO, 238 candidate vaccines are being developed worldwide -- 63 of them in clinical trials in various countries.</p>.<p>China is currently testing 16 vaccines which are in different stages of trials. It has vaccinated over 32 million people at home so far.</p>.<p>China has offered to provide 10 million Covid-19 vaccines to COVAX, a global initiative, which aims at ensuring that middle and lower-income countries get timely access to coronavirus vaccines. </p>
<p>China has granted conditional approval for its second Covid-19 vaccine, ahead of the expected emergency approval from the WHO for two of its jabs that would enable the country to step-up global supplies of the shots.</p>.<p>China's drug regulator has given approval for the conditional mass use of the coronavirus vaccine produced by Chinese pharmaceutical firm Sinovac Biotech.</p>.<p>Sinovac Biotech announced on Saturday that CoronaVac, an inactivated vaccine candidate against Covid-19, received authorisation from the National Medical Products Administration for conditional mass use in China.</p>.<p>It is the second locally made vaccine to be given conditional approval. Beijing authorised the state-owned Sinopharm's vaccine in December.</p>.<p>The conditional approval was based on the results of the overseas Phase-III clinical trials of CoronaVac. Final data from the trials has not been made available yet and the results of its efficacy and safety require further confirmation, state-run Global Times said, quoting a Sinovac statement.</p>.<p>The World Health Organisation (WHO) on Friday said two Chinese vaccines are "in a very advanced stage" of its Emergency Use Listing Procedure (EUL) assessment.</p>.<p>The vaccines, produced by Sinovac and Sinopharm, are among the four vaccines in very advanced phase of approval, Mariangela Simao, assistant WHO Director-General for Access to Medicines, Vaccines and Pharmaceuticals, said in Geneva.</p>.<p>A team of experts from the WHO are now already in China, and they "will start inspections next week" as they are currently in quarantine, she said.</p>.<p>So far, only the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine has received EUL approval. Two other vaccines -- Britain's AstraZeneca and South Korea's SK Bioscience -- are also being assessed, Simao said.</p>.<p>According to WHO, 238 candidate vaccines are being developed worldwide -- 63 of them in clinical trials in various countries.</p>.<p>China is currently testing 16 vaccines which are in different stages of trials. It has vaccinated over 32 million people at home so far.</p>.<p>China has offered to provide 10 million Covid-19 vaccines to COVAX, a global initiative, which aims at ensuring that middle and lower-income countries get timely access to coronavirus vaccines. </p>