It looks like you're using an Ad Blocker.
Please white-list or disable AboveTopSecret.com in your ad-blocking tool.
Thank you.
Some features of ATS will be disabled while you continue to use an ad-blocker.
First World Health Organization endorsement of a Chinese-made vaccine may offer cheap, high quality jabs for the developing world.
A Chinese-made vaccine has been given a stamp of approval by the World Health Organization (WHO) for the first time. The move could herald a step towards China becoming a global vaccine maker.
The vaccine protects children against Japanese encephalitis (JE), a viral brain infection spread by mosquitoes that is common in parts of east and south Asia. The vaccine, formally known as SA 14-14-2, was added to the WHO's prequalified medicines list last week, giving it a WHO quality and safety endorsement. The practical implication is that it can be used by United Nations agencies.
The global supply and availability of vaccines against JE will be “greatly enhanced by the prequalification”, says Bernhard Schwartländer, a WHO Representative in China. “Now, it is eligible, in principle, for purchase by UNICEF and the GAVI Alliance.” The GAVI Alliance, a public–private global health partnership based in Geneva, Switzerland, will be discussing the purchase of the JE vaccine at its board meeting in November.
"It's very meaningful that a Chinese vaccine can go global," says Wang Junzhi, deputy director of China's National Institutes for Food and Drug Control in Beijing.
“We’ve exported 209 million doses to 11 Asian countries since 1999,” says Ge Yonghong, general manager of the CDIBP. “Our vaccine is good and affordable.”
“Our production capacity can meet the demands of endemic regions in China, and South and East Asia,” adds Yang Xiaoming, president of the CNBG.
nature