The World Health Organization on Tuesday approved China’s Sinovac Covid-19 vaccine for emergency use. Sinovac is the second Chinese vaccine after Sinopharm to get the global health body’s authorisation.

The vaccine is manufactured by Beijing-based Sinovac Biotech. WHO said the vaccine prevented symptomatic disease in 51% of those vaccinated and prevented severe infection and hospitalisation in 100% of the studied population.

“WHO’s Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization has also completed its review of the vaccine,” it said. “On the basis of available evidence, WHO recommends the vaccine for use in adults 18 years and older, in a two-dose schedule with a spacing of two to four weeks.”

The organization added that since fewer volunteers aged over 60 were enrolled in clinical trials, the vaccine’s efficacy for that age group could not be estimated. “Nevertheless, WHO is not recommending an upper age limit for the vaccine because data collected during subsequent use in multiple countries and supportive immunogenicity data suggest the vaccine is likely to have a protective effect in older persons,” it said.

WHO added that the vaccine’s easy storage requirements made it suitable for low-resource settings. It can be stored at 2-8 degrees Celsius.

Sinovac’s shot is an inactivated vaccine, which means the scientists used killed viral particles to expose the immune system to the coronavirus without risking a serious disease response.

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Dr Mariangela Simao, WHO’s assistant-director general for access to health products, said multiple vaccines were urgently needed to address the inequitable access to doses across the world. “We urge manufacturers to participate in the COVAX Facility, share their knowhow and data and contribute to bringing the pandemic under control,” she added.

A WHO emergency listing is a signal to national regulators that a product is safe and effective. It also allows the vaccine to be included in COVAX, the World Health Organization’s global initiative to promote equitable vaccine distribution around the world by supplying them to poorer nations.

The WHO had approved the first vaccine developed by a non-western country – China’s Sinopharm – on May 7. Previously, it had only cleared the vaccines made by Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson and Moderna.

Globally, Covid-19 has infected more than 17.10 crore people and killed over 35.61 lakh since the pandemic broke out in December 2019, according to Johns Hopkins University.