Significant Progress! WHO Extends the Recommended Age of Use of COVID-19 Vaccine (Vero Cell), Inactivated of SINOPHARM CNBG Beijing Institute of Biological Products Co., Ltd. to Over 60 Years Old

Recently, WHO has extended the recommended age of use of COVID-19 Vaccine (Vero Cell), Inactivated developed and produced by SINOPHARM CNBG Beijing Institute of Biological Products Co., Ltd. (BIBP) to over 60 years old, which means that the safety and efficacy of the vaccine for people aged 18 and over have been recognized by WHO.

▲The recommended age of use of COVID-19 Vaccine (Vero Cell), Inactivated of BIBP has been adjusted to people aged 18 and over on the official website of WHO.

On May 7, 2021, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of WHO, announced that COVID-19 Vaccine (Vero Cell), Inactivated of BIBP was authorized by WHO for emergency use and included in the global "Emergency Use List" (EUL). This is the first EUL approval from WHO for a Chinese COVID-19 vaccine, and also for a COVID-19 vaccine from non-Western countries, marking another leap forward in the realization of the accessibility and affordability of Chinese COVID-19 vaccines as a global public good, especially in developing countries.
      On August 23, 2022, WHO announced that China passed the evaluation made by the National Regulatory Authority. This shows that the regulatory system for vaccines in China has been benchmarked against the international standards and the regulatory capacity and level in China have been improved, which ensures the safety, efficacy and quality control of the vaccine products to better protect the people's health, and also creates favorable conditions for export of the vaccine products of China and for contribution to the development of public health all over the world.
      Up to now, 4 vaccines developed and produced by CNBG have been approved by WHO. Confronted with COVID-19 pandemic, CNBG has developed 4 COVID-19 diagnostic reagents and 4 therapeutic drugs against COVID-19 with focus on diagnosis, treatment and prevention, and has developed 4 COVID-19 vaccines independently and successfully in three technical routes. The clinical trial approvals have been given for the Omicron COVID-19 Vaccine (Vero Cell), Inactivated and second-generation recombinant protein COVID-19 vaccine developed for Omicron variant, and an application for clinical trial has been filed for the mRNA vaccine against Omicron variant. So far, the COVID-19 vaccines of CNBG have been approved for registration and marketing or emergency use in 119 countries, regions and international organizations around the world, and more than 3.5 billion doses have been produced and supplied at home and abroad, making positive contributions to protecting people's lives and health.