The Chinese drug regulatory authority has given its "conditional" approval for a second vaccine against Covid-19, the CoronaVac from Sinovac, the Chinese pharmaceutical company announced on Saturday.
The vaccine has already been used to vaccinate certain “at risk” populations, but this authorization allows it to be used by the general public.
READ ALSO>
Covid-19: can we trust Russian and Chinese vaccines?
A conditional authorization allows emergency treatments to be deployed on the market, in cases where clinical trials have yet to be continued but already indicate that these treatments will work.
This authorization comes after several trials of the vaccine, in China and in countries such as Brazil and Turkey, although "the results in terms of efficacy and safety have yet to be confirmed," Sinovac said in a statement.
Vaccines "effective and safe", says Beijing
China had so far formally approved only one of its vaccines at the end of December, developed by the Sinopharm laboratory.
According to Sinovac, large-scale testing in Brazil has shown an overall vaccine effectiveness rate of around 50% in preventing infection, and 80% in preventing cases requiring medical intervention.
The move comes as Europe, faced with delays in the delivery of vaccines already ordered, is increasingly tempted to buy Russian and Chinese vaccines.
This Thursday, Beijing also reacted to the words of Emmanuel Macron, who had criticized the opacity around the results of the Chinese vaccine.
At the risk, according to him, that this serum is counterproductive and even leads to "the emergence of new variants".
The communist regime notably affirmed that its vaccines "are effective and safe"