China Approves Its First State-Owned COVID Vaccine

The Associated Press reports:

China authorized its first homegrown COVID-19 vaccine for general use Thursday, adding another shot that could see wide use in poorer countries as the virus surges back around the globe.

The Sinopharm vaccine had already been given to groups such as health care professionals and essential workers under emergency-use guidelines as part of China’s program to inoculate 50 million people before the Lunar New Year holiday in February.

But the go-ahead should allow it to be supplied more broadly at home and moves Beijing closer to being able to ship it abroad. China is eager to ship its vaccines globally, driven by a desire to repair the damage to its image caused by the pandemic that started a year ago in the central city of Wuhan.

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China approves Sinopharm’s Covid-19 vaccine, promises the public free jabs https://t.co/LeROV02gya

— SCMP News (@SCMPNews) December 31, 2020

Health regulators in China have approved the country’s first homegrown COVID-19 vaccine, developed by state-owned Sinopharm, for general use. https://t.co/3QMq5rsOow

— Axios (@axios) December 31, 2020

MORE: China has approved its first coronavirus vaccine, developed by state-owned pharmaceutical company Sinopharm https://t.co/SICv7Uri9R

— dpa news agency (@dpa_intl) December 31, 2020