Hungary’s medicines authority OGYÉI said in a statement that all batches of the new vaccines delivered to Hungary would have to be approved by the National Public Health Centre (NNK) before being administered to the public.
The regulator said it has granted a temporary authorisation for the use of the CoviShield jab, which, similarly to AstraZeneca’s vaccine, is a viral vector shot. The vaccine is being developed in India using technology granted to the Serum Institute of India by AstraZeneca. Canadian drug regulator Health Canada granted authorisation for the emergency use of the vaccine in February after concluding that it was similar enough to the AstraZeneca jab.
CanSino, OGYÉI noted, is also a viral vector vaccine developed by CanSino Biologics and the Beijing Institute of Biotechnology. The regulator said it has authorised the purchase of samples of the single-dose vaccine, having reviewed the documentation of its production process in December. The samples are being studied by the NNK. CanSino Biologics said in a statement on Monday that clinical trials of the vaccine have shown that a single dose is 65.7% effective at preventing symptomatic Covid-19. However, the jab has been found to be 90.9% effective when it came to preventing severe illness from the virus, it said.
One scientist involved in the development of the vaccine told Chinese public television earlier this month that one dose of the jab provided protection against the virus for six months, while two doses provided immunity for up to two years.
hungarymatters.hu
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