DTMT Network

World Health Organisation (WHO) issued Emergency Use Licence (EUL) to Convidecia, a vaccine manufactured by CanSino Biologics, China, on May 19, 2022, making it the third vaccine developed in China to be approved for vaccination against Covid-19 infections caused by SARS-CoV-2 virus.

With this approval, the WHO has so far approved 11 vaccines for immunisation against Covid-19.

In a statement, the UN health agency said that the vaccine was assessed under the WHO EUL procedure based on the review of data on quality, safety, efficacy, a risk management plan, programmatic suitability and a manufacturing site inspection conducted by WHO.

The Technical Advisory Group for Emergency Use Listing, convened by WHO and made up of regulatory experts from around the world, has determined that the vaccine meets WHO standards for protection against Covid-19 and that the benefits of the vaccine far outweigh the risks, the statement added.

The vaccine was found to have 64% efficacy against symptomatic disease and 92% against severe Covid-19, WHO said.

WHO’s Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunisation (SAGE), which formulates vaccine-specific policies and recommendations for vaccines’ use in populations, reviewed the vaccine earlier in May 2022.

Convidecia is based on a modified human adenovirus that expresses the spike S protein of SARS-CoV-2 and SAGE recommends the vaccine to be administered as a single dose of 0.5 ml in all age groups 18 and above.