China Approves Two More Domestic Covid Vaccines

China's National Medical Products Administration said on Thursday that it had approved two more Covid-19 vaccines for public use, increasing the number of domestic vaccines approved in China to four.

The two newly-approved vaccines are made by CanSino Biologics Inc 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.

So far, China has not approved Covid-19 vaccines developed by Western drug makers.

Sinopharm's Wuhan unit said on Wednesday its vaccine had an efficacy rate of 72.51% against the Covid-19 disease caused by the virus, citing interim analysis of late-stage clinical trial data, without offering more details.

It is one of two candidates from Sinopharm that have entered Phase III clinical trials overseas, and was earlier given to a limited group of people at higher infection risk.

The four approved Chinese vaccines can be stored at normal freezer temperatures, making them a potentially attractive option for developing countries which might have difficulty deploying vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna that require much colder temperatures for longer-term storage.

China has been exporting the Sinovac and earlier Sinopharm vaccines to countries around the world. (Reuters)