WHO to give update on Sinopharm vaccine emergency use listing

FILE PHOTO: A syringe and a box of China’s Sinopharm coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine are seen at a sport center, as the country continues its mass inoculation campaign, in Stip, North Macedonia May 6, 2021. REUTERS/Ognen Teofilovski

GENEVA — The World Health Organization (WHO) expects news on Friday regarding an emergency use listing for the COVID-19 vaccine made by Chinese state-owned drugmaker Sinopharm, a WHO spokesman said.

“We are kind of expecting an update on the EUL listing for Sinopharm in the next hour or so,” WHO spokesman Christian Lindmeier told a U.N. briefing. Results of its review of the COVID-19 shot made by Sinovac Biotech could come next week, he said.

A WHO emergency listing is a signal to national regulators on a product’s safety and efficacy. It would also allow the shot to be included in COVAX, the global programme to provide vaccines mainly for poor countries, but which currently faces major supply constraints.