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Josephine Ma

South Africa’s health regulator has registered the Sinopharm Covid-19 shot, clearing the way for the Chinese vaccine’s use for adults in the country.
“This authorisation is based on acceptable safety, quality and efficacy data submitted by MC Pharma Pty (Ltd)” over the period from July to December, according to a statement from the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority, or Sahpra.
The inactivated vaccine – imported by MC Pharma in South Africa – was developed by Sinopharm and the Beijing Institute of Biological Products Co.
Authorisation to use the vaccine is subject to conditions, including that it is supplied and administered in accordance with the country’s Covid-19 programme, and that the regulator is updated about the results of ongoing studies and safety data, according to the Sahpra statement.


South Africa gave conditional approval for another Chinese inactivated vaccine, developed by Sinovac Biotech, in July. But it has mainly relied on the Johnson & Johnson inactivated vaccine and the Pfizer/BioNTech mRNA shot.
Just 28 per cent of the country – which has a population of 59 million – is fully vaccinated, compared to a rate of more than 70 per cent in many developed nations. South Africa had a surge in Covid-19 cases in December, driven by the Omicron variant, but numbers have declined from the peak of over 26,000 new infections a day to 1,752 on Sunday.
Chinese vaccines are in use in 46 nations across Africa, though the number of doses delivered remains relatively low. South Africa had been one of the few African nations not using Chinese vaccines in their Covid-19 immunisation programmes.
In November, Chinese President Xi Jinping pledged to supply 1 billion Covid-19 vaccine doses to African countries, including 600 million that would be donated.
China has so far delivered 119 million doses to the continent, of which 25 million were donated, according to Beijing-based Bridge Consulting, which tracks Chinese vaccine exports.
South Africa is also receiving doses from the World Health Organization-backed Covax Facility, which aims to ensure poorer countries receive fair and equitable access to Covid-19 vaccines.


Meanwhile, South African firm Afrigen Biologics last week said it had used publicly available information on Moderna’s mRNA vaccine to make its own version of the jab. The company is part of a consortium working with a WHO mRNA hub in Cape Town, South Africa, aiming to help transfer knowledge of the cutting-edge technology as a way to reduce vaccine inequality.
The WHO had called for mRNA vaccine makers Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna to share the technology but they declined.
Afrigen scientists said they had used data made public by Moderna, but that their vaccine was different because the company had not shared its technology with them.
Moderna has said previously that it would not enforce its patent during the pandemic.
Without Moderna or Pfizer sharing their technology, it could still take around three years for the mRNA vaccine developed by the South African scientists to get approval for use, according to the WHO.
“We expect that production of vaccines in these sites will start in 2024. But it could be shorter than that if, indeed, if we had a technology that was already in trials that ... some company was willing to share the know-how,” Soumya Swaminathan, chief scientist at the WHO, told reporters on Friday.


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Sahpra said the authorisation was ‘based on acceptable safety, quality and efficacy data’ from the July-December period
Just 28 per cent are fully vaccinated in the country, which had a surge in cases in December driven by the Omicron variant


Sahpra said the authorisation was ‘based on acceptable safety, quality and efficacy data’ from the July-December period.
