The World Health Organization said last night that it has granted an emergency use authorization for the coronavirus vaccine made by China’s CanSino Biologics, the 11th such shot to receive the green light.
The U.N. health agency said the single-dose CanSino vaccine was found to be about 92% effective against severe COVID-19 and 64% effective in preventing people from getting symptoms of the disease. WHO’s expert vaccine group recommended the vaccine for everyone age 18 and over.
The CanSino vaccine uses a harmless virus called an adenovirus to deliver the spike protein of the coronavirus into the body, which then prompts an immune response. The technology is similar to vaccines made by Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca, which use different adenoviruses.
WHO’s authorization of CanSino means that the U.N.-backed COVAX effort to distribute vaccines to poor countries can now purchase and deliver vaccines made by the Chinese company. Last year, COVAX signed a deal to buy more than half a billion Chinese vaccines made by Sinopharm and Sinovac.
