BEIJING — Twelve foreign countries have granted market approval or emergency use for Chinese vaccines, one developed by Sinovac Biotech Ltd and the other by Sinopharm's bioscience subsidiary the China National Biotec Group (CNBG). Six Chinese vaccines have entered phase-3 clinical trials.

The Sinovac vaccine, CoronaVac, has an efficacy rate of 91.25 percent in clinical trials in Turkey and 65.3 percent in Indonesia. Clinical studies in Brazil suggested the vaccine was 100 percent effective in preventing severe cases, 78 percent effective in preventing mild cases requiring medical treatment, and had a general efficacy rate of 50.38 percent.

The United Arab Emirates, which announced the official registration of the CNBG vaccine last December, said the interim analysis of the phase-3 trials shows the vaccine provides 86 percent efficacy against COVID-19, the seroconversion rate of neutralizing antibodies reaches 99 percent and it is 100 percent effective in preventing severe cases.

China has joined the WHO-led COVAX initiative to promote international cooperation on vaccines and equitable global distribution of vaccines. A WHO team in China is working with producers of the Sinovac and Sinopharm vaccines for potential emergency use listings.