China approves emergency use of Sinopharm vaccine for minors

China has approved the emergency use of the inactivated vaccine developed by the Chinese pharmaceutical company Sinopharm for children aged 3 to 17 years, Report informs via Chinese media.

On July 16, Sinopharm's inactivated coronavirus vaccine received emergency use to vaccinate children aged 3 to 17.

The first and second stages of clinical trials of the vaccine took place in the central Chinese province of Henan. The seroconversion index (the production of antibodies by the body) was 100%, the geometric mean antibody titer (GMT) and the seroconversion index were practically indistinguishable from the results of adult participants in clinical trials.

Now the vaccine has proven highly safe. There were no serious side effects. Only some participants had fever and pain at the injection site. On June 6, vaccine trials with 900 children of different nationalities aged 3 to 17 years began in Abu Dhabi, UAE.

In early June, the Chinese authorities also allowed for emergency purposes to vaccinate children from 3 years of age with the CoronaVac vaccine developed by the Chinese company Sinovac. According to a study published in the medical journal The Lancet, the drug has been shown to be highly effective in trials among children aged 3 to 17 years.

Vaccination of priority population groups in China began on December 15, 2020. As of July 16, over 1.43 billion jabs against coronavirus have been administered in China.