The prospects for a wider access by SA to a variety of vaccines is looking brighter as the health products regulator is at a “very advanced stage” in reviewing the Chinese Coronavac vaccine, and is conducting a rolling review of the Russian Sputnik vaccine.
The SA Health Products Regulator (Saphra) has so far approved the Pfizer and the Johnson & Johnson vaccines.
In a statement Sahpra said applications for approval had been received for the Coronavac vaccine manufactured by Sinovac and the Sputnik V manufactured by Gamaleya Research Institute.
“The evaluation of the Coronovac application is at a very advanced stage. Furthermore, reports recently made available by the World Health Organisation (WHO) that articulate the basis for the emergency use listing are being considered,” Sahpra said.
“The Sputnik V application is a rolling review, thus as data becomes available to the applicant it is submitted to Sahpra.”
The statement said that Sahpra could not approve any product if an application had not been submitted to the authority. No applications had been made for the Sinopharm and Moderna vaccines so no decision had been made on them even though they have a WHO emergency use listing.
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