WHO approves AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine for emergency use
- The decision widens the developing world’s access to the relatively inexpensive jab, though production still needs to be scaled up
- The World Health Organization review found that AstraZeneca’s jab met the ‘must-have’ criteria for safety, and its efficacy benefits outweighed its risks
The World Health Organization (WHO) on Monday listed AstraZeneca and Oxford University’s Covid-19 vaccine for emergency use, widening access to the relatively inexpensive shot in the developing world.
“We now have all the pieces in place for the rapid distribution of vaccines. But we still need to scale up production,” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General, told a news briefing.
“We continue to call for Covid-19 vaccine developers to submit their dossiers to WHO for review at the same time as they submit them to regulators in high-income countries,” he said.
A WHO statement said it had approved the vaccine as produced by AstraZeneca-SKBio (Republic of Korea) and the Serum Institute of India.
09:50
SCMP Explains: What's the difference between the major Covid-19 vaccines?
The listing by the UN health agency comes days after a WHO panel provided interim recommendations on the vaccine, saying two doses with an interval of around eight to 12 weeks should be given to all adults, and can be used in countries with the South African variant of the coronavirus as well.
The WHO’s review found that the AstraZeneca vaccine met the “must-have” criteria for safety, and its efficacy benefits outweighed its risks.