WHO to consider two Chinese COVID-19 vaccines next week


FILE PHOTO: A logo is pictured outside a building of the World Health Organization (WHO) during an executive board meeting on update on the coronavirus outbreak, in Geneva, Switzerland, February 6, 2020. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse

(Reuters) – The World Health Organization will begin considering China’s two COVID-19 vaccines for emergency approval next week, WHO Assistant Director-General Mariangela Simao said on Friday.

China is promoting two vaccines, made by Sinopharm and Sinovac, and has signed deals to export millions of doses of both of them. Simao said the WHO was also looking into providing emergency approval for AstraZeneca’s vaccine from manufacturing sites in South Korea and India.