Shafaq News / A World Health Organization panel announced Friday that it would authorize emergency use of a COVID-19 vaccine made by Chinese firm Sinopharm, the Washington Post reported. 

The step means that the vaccine, developed by Sinopharm with the Beijing Institute of Biological Products, can be used to bolster WHO-backed efforts such as the Covax initiative to share doses equitably around the world.

It is also a major boost in international recognition for Sinopharm’s vaccine. It marks the first time that any Chinese-made vaccine received emergency authorization from the WHO.

“This expands the list of COVID-19 vaccines that Covax can buy, and gives countries confidence to expedite their own regulatory approval, and to import and administer a vaccine,” WHO director Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a news briefing on Friday.

Though the Sinopharm vaccine is already in widespread use around the world with an estimated 65 million doses administered, its developers have released only limited information about the vaccine’s efficiency and side effects.

A separate WHO advisory group announced this week that it was “very confident” the Sinopharm vaccine protects people ages 18 to 59, citing evidence from clinical trials in China, Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates.

However, the Strategic Advisory Group of Experts said it had a “low level of confidence” of the vaccine’s efficacy in people over 60 years old and a “very low confidence” in the data about potential side effects in that age group.

The United Arab Emirates, where the Sinopharm vaccine has been widely used, has asked a “very small number” of people who received the vaccine to return for third doses.

The Seychelles, where the vaccine makes up around 60 percent of doses administered, has also seen a surge in cases recently, which some experts said raised questions about the vaccine’s effectiveness for reaching herd immunity.