UN agency approves AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use
TORONTO — The World Health Organization has granted an emergency authorization to Astra Ze ne ca' s coronavirus vaccine, a move that should allow the U. N. agency' s partners to ship millions of doses to countries worldwide as part of a U.N.backed program to tame the pandemic.
In a statement Monday, WHO said it was authorizing the AstraZeneca vaccines made by the Serum Institute of India and South Korea' s AstraZeneca-SKBio.
WHO' s green light for the Astra Ze ne ca vaccine is only these con done the U. N. health agency has issued after approving the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine in December. Monday' s announcement should trigger the delivery of hundreds of millions of doses to countries that have signed up for the U. N.-backed COVAX effort, which aims to deliver vaccines to the world's most vulnerable people.
“Countries with no access to vaccines to date will finally be able to start vaccinating their health workers and populations at risk ,” said Dr Mariângela Simão, WHO' s Assistant-Director General for Access to Medicine sand Health Products.
The coronavirus pandemic has infected about 109 mill i on people worldwide and killed at least 2.4 million of them. But many of the world's countries have not yet started vaccination programs and even rich nations are facing short ages of vaccine doses as manufacturers struggle to ramp up production.
The AstraZeneca vaccine has already been authorized in more than 50 countries, including Britain, India, Argentina and Mexico. It is cheaper and easier to handle than the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, which needs deep cold storage that is not widespread in many developing nations. Both vaccines require two shots per person, given weeks apart.
Last week, WHO's vaccine experts recommended the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine for people over age 18, including in countries that have detected variants of COVID-19.
But that was contrary to the recommendation from the African Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which said countries that had identified a virus variant first seen in South Africa should be“cautious” in their use of the AstraZeneca vaccine, suggesting that other shots be prioritized instead.
The AstraZeneca vaccine forms the bulk of COVAX's current stockpile and concerns were recently raised after an early study suggest edit might not prevent mild and moderate disease caused by the variant first seen South Africa. Last week, South Africa scaled back its planned roll out of the Astra Ze ne ca vaccine, opting instead to use an unlicensed shot from Johnson & Johnson for its healthcare workers.
COVAX has already missed its own goal of beginning coronavirus vaccinations in poor countries at t he same time that shots were rolled out in rich countries. Numerous developing countries have rushed in recent weeks to sign their own private deals to buy vaccines, unwilling to wait for COVAX.