BEIJING - China approved its first COVID-19 vaccine for general public use on Thursday, a shot developed by an affiliate of state-backed pharmaceutical giant Sinopharm, as it braces for greater transmission risks over the winter.

No detailed efficacy data of the vaccine has been publicly released but its developer, Beijing Biological Products Institute, a unit of Sinopharm subsidiary China National Biotec Group (CNBG), said on Wednesday its vaccine was 79.34 percent effective in preventing people from developing the disease based on interim data.

• China's Sinopharm says vaccine '79% effective' against COVID-19

The approval, announced by the National Medical Products Administration, comes after the United Arab Emirates this month became the first country to roll out the vaccine to the public.

While China has been slower than several other countries in approving COVID-19 vaccines, it has been inoculating some citizens for months with 3 different shots still undergoing late-stage trials.

China launched an emergency use program in July aimed at essential workers and others at high risk of infection and as of the end of November, had administered more than 1.5 million doses using at least 3 different products - 2 developed by CNBG and 1 by Sinovac.

More than 3 million additional doses have been given since Dec. 15 as the drive to vaccinate priority groups gathers pace.

While the efficacy of the Sinopharm shot trails the more than 90 percent success rate of rival vaccines from Pfizer Inc and its partner BioNTech and Moderna Inc, it points to progress China has made in the global race to develop successful COVID-19 vaccines.

Four other vaccines from Sinovac, CNBG's Wuhan unit, CanSino Biologics and the Chinese Academy of Sciences are also in late stage trials, underscoring China's efforts to develop a homegrown vaccine to challenge Western rivals.

President Xi Jinping has pledged to make China's vaccines a global public good and it has won several large supply deals with countries including Indonesia and Brazil - the most populous countries in Southeast Asia and Latin America respectively.

CALL TO GET VACCINATED

While China has kept new outbreaks of the coronavirus under control, it is ramping up the emergency program to contain the risks over the winter. The virus emerged a year ago in a market in the central city of Wuhan.

The South China Morning Post reported that China would vaccinate as many as 50 million people from high-priority groups before the Lunar New Year holiday in February.

"We call on people... to take an active part in vaccination to protect themselves, family members and others, which is also contributing to global epidemic control," Zeng Yixin, an official with National Health Commission, told a briefing on Thursday.

The price of the vaccine would depend on the scale of use, but the "premise" was that it would be free for the public in China, he said.

The vaccine's approval is officially "regulatory," a conditional green light given to vaccines deemed urgently needed to cope with major public health emergencies even though complete clinical trials have yet to be completed.

The approval comes as Britain on Wednesday approved a second COVID-19 vaccine, a shot developed by Oxford University and AstraZeneca, as it battles a major winter surge driven by a new variant of the virus.

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