Sinopharm: Chinese Covid vaccine gets WHO emergency approval

The World Health Organization (WHO) has granted emergency approval for the Covid vaccine made by Chinese company Sinopharm.

It is the first vaccine developed by a non-Western country to get WHO backing.

The vaccine has already been given to millions of people in China and elsewhere.

The WHO had previously only approved the vaccines made by Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson and Moderna.

But individual health regulators in various countries - especially poorer ones in Africa, Latin America and Asia - have approved Chinese jabs for emergency use.

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With little data released internationally early on, the effectiveness of the various Chinese vaccines has long been uncertain.

But the WHO on Friday said it had validated the "safety, efficacy and quality" of the Sinopharm jab.

The WHO said the addition of the vaccine had "the potential to rapidly accelerate Covid-19 vaccine access for countries seeking to protect health workers and populations at risk".

It is recommending that the vaccine be administered in two doses to those aged 18 and over.

A decision is expected within days on another Chinese vaccine developed by Sinovac, while Russia's Sputnik vaccine is under assessment.

Why does WHO backing matter?
The green light from the global health body is a guideline for national regulators that a vaccine is safe and effective.

WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said it would give countries "confidence to expedite their own regulatory approval".

It also means that the vaccine can be used in the global Covax programme, which aims to provide about two billion vaccines to developing countries.

The decision to list the Chinese vaccine for emergency use is expected to give a substantial boost to the scheme, which has been hit by supply problems and only been able to deliver about 50 million doses so far.

How many people have been vaccinated so far?
Indians' desperate wait for Covid jab to get longer
Prior to the WHO approval, the Sinopharm vaccine was already being widely used, with an estimated 65 million doses administered, according to reports.

In addition to China, countries using the vaccine include the UAE, Pakistan and Hungary.

The vaccine's developer, Beijing Biological Products Institute, has not released any detailed data about its efficacy, but has said the jab is 79.34% effective in preventing people from developing the disease, based on interim data, according to Reuters news agency

The decision to approve the vaccine for emergency use was made by the WHO's technical advisory group, which reviewed its latest clinical data and manufacturing practices.

Doses of another Chinese vaccine made by Sinovac have also already been shipped to a number of countries, which have permitted its emergency usage.One of the Chinese vaccines' main advantages is that they can be stored in a standard refrigerator at 2-8 degrees Celsius, like the AstraZeneca vaccine.

How do the Chinese shots work?
The two Chinese vaccines differ significantly from some of the other Covid vaccines currently in use, especially those by Pfizer and Moderna.

Developed in a more traditional way, they are so-called inactivated vaccines, which means they use killed viral particles to expose the immune system to the virus without risking a serious disease response.

What's it like in the best place to live during Covid?
Your top questions about India's Covid crisis answeredBy comparison, the BioNtech/Pfizer and Moderna vaccines are mRNA vaccines. This means part of the coronavirus' genetic code is injected into the body, training the immune system how to respond to it.

The UK's AstraZeneca vaccine is yet another type of vaccine where a version of a common cold virus from chimpanzees is modified to contain genetic material shared by the coronavirus. Once injected, it teaches the immune system how to fight the real virus.

BioNTech/Pfizer and Moderna have an efficacy rate of around 90% or higher, while the AstraZeneca jab is thought to be around 76%.

In April, China's top disease control official said the efficacy of the country's Covid vaccines was low, although he later insisted his comments had been misinterpreted.
Read More : Brazil violence: Rio police accused by residents of abuses in raid
By Hugo Bachega

The United Nations human rights office has strongly criticised a police raid against suspected drug traffickers in Rio de Janeiro, amid allegations of abuse and extrajudicial executions.

The deadliest police operation in the city's history has left 25 dead, including a police officer.

Residents say police killed suspects who wanted to surrender and entered homes without a warrant.

Police have denied any wrongdoing, saying officers acted in self-defence.

Rio de Janeiro is one of Brazil's most violent cities, and vast areas are under the control of criminals, many of them linked to powerful drug-trafficking gangs. Security forces are often accused of disproportionate force during their anti-crime operations.

A 'policy of massacre' in Rio's favelas?
Listen to the documentary Lethal force in Rio's favelas
Thursday's raid in Jacarezinho, one of the city's largest slums known as favelas, was carried out by about 200 police officers and included an armoured helicopter with a sniper. The area is dominated by Comando Vermelho, or Red Command, one of Brazil's largest criminal organisations.

A television helicopter filmed heavily armed suspects jumping from rooftops, while desperate residents posted videos on social media showing intense shootouts as they claimed police had invaded their houses and used excessive violence."There are boys who have been cornered in the house and want to surrender," one resident said, referring to the suspects. "And the police want to kill them. They have even killed some in front of us."

In another video, a resident filmed a police officer standing next to a house and said: "They're cornering [the suspects]. They don't want to let the boys surrender."

'Lots of pools of blood'
Public defender Maria Júlia Miranda said residents told her a suspect was killed in the bedroom of an eight-year-old girl where there were blood stains on the floor and on her bed, and that the family had witnessed the alleged execution.

Ms Miranda said she was "shocked" by seeing "lots of pools of blood... and walls with bullet marks" when visiting the favela. There was also evidence that the scenes of the killings were not preserved, she said, with bodies being removed. "On these cases," she added, "there was probably an execution."