WHO expects decision on emergency listing for Chinese vaccines soon (updated)

SK Biopharmaceuticals Co

15/04/2021 13:48

(Adds details, comment from WHO official)
    ZURICH, April 15 (Reuters) - The World Health Organization
will decide late this month or in May on emergency use listings
for COVID-19 vaccines from Sinopharm  1099.HK  and Sinovac
 SVA.O  following an extended review, a WHO European region
official said on Thursday.
    "We are in touch with them to review the dossiers that have
been submitted by both vaccine manufacturers," WHO-Europe
vaccination expert Siddhartha Datta told a virtual press
conference. "We will be hearing about a decision on the
emergency use listing in April or early May, so please keep an
eye on that."
    A WHO panel in final stages of review of the Chinese
vaccines has said that a decision for at least one could come on
April 26, while a second meeting has been planned for May 3,
should more time be needed to make a decision on both shots.
    Such an emergency WHO listing is a prerequisite for purchase
by the COVAX vaccine-sharing facility designed to get shots to
poorer countries. It also helps guide countries with less
developed regulatory systems about a vaccine's safety and
efficacy.
    So far, the WHO has issued emergency listings for Pfizer
 PFN.S  and BioNTech's  22UAy.DE  COVID-19 vaccine, as well as
versions of AstraZeneca's  AZN.L  vaccine made by the Serum
Institute of India and South Korea's AstraZeneca-SKBio.
    CanSino's vaccine relies on a viral vector to deliver DNA to
prompt an immune response, a technique similar to that used in
both AstraZeneca's and Johnson & Johnson's  JNJ.N  vaccines now
being investigated for their association with very rare blood
clots combined with low platelet counts. 
    CanSino has said there have been no reports of blood clots.
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2M61JD urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N2M71B6
    Sinovac's vaccine, being used in places including Hong Kong
and Brazil, relies on inactivated coronaviruses to generate an
immune response, a technique used for decades including against
polio.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2M40LJ

 (Reporting by John Miller; Editing by Hugh Lawson and Barbara
Lewis)
 ((J.Miller@thomsonreuters.com; +41 58 306 7734; Reuters
Messaging: j.miller.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))