The World Health Organization (WHO) on Friday approved the Sinpoharm vaccine for emergency use against the Covid-19. With this development, Sinopharm became China’s first coronavirus vaccine to get the WHO’s nod for international use.

Addressing a press conference in this regard, the WHO’s director-general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said:

“This afternoon, WHO gave emergency use listing to Beijing's Sinopharm Covid-19 vaccine, making it the sixth vaccine to receive WHO validation for safety, efficacy, and quality.”

The other five emergency use vaccines to get WHO listings are made by Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, Johnson, and Johnson, and the AstraZeneca being produced at separate sites in India and in South Korea.

The approval means that Sinopharm will be included in Covax, the UN health agency’s global initiative that is designed to promote equitable vaccine distribution around the world.

According to an AFP, the Sinopharm vaccine being used in 42 territories around the world, is the fourth behind AstraZeneca (166), Pfizer-BioNTech (94), and Moderna (46).

Besides China, it is being used in Algeria, Cameroon, Egypt, Hungary, Iraq, Iran, Pakistan, Peru, the United Arab Emirates, Serbia, and Seychelles, among others.

It is a developing story, will be updated accordingly.