Amid the intensifying third COVID-19 wave, the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP) has granted Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) to another Chinese vaccine, CoronaVac, officials told The News on Thursday.
This would be the fifth coronavirus vaccine and the third Chinese vaccine to be used in Pakistan.
Earlier, Pakistan had granted the EUA to China’s two-dose Sinopharm and single-dose Convidecia vaccine developed by the Cansino Biologicals Inc. UK’s AstraZeneca and Russian Sputnik V vaccines have also been approved by the DRAP.
According to the report, the CoronaVac vaccine, despite its low efficacy rate was allowed by the health authorities to counter the third wave of the pandemic in Pakistan.
In this regard, an official of the Drug Regulatory Authority said: “DRAP’s registration board in its 304th meeting on Thursday gave Emergency Use Authorisation (EUA) to CoronaVac vaccine, developed by the Sinovac Life Sciences Company Ltd., based in Beijing, China.”
