China says WHO gave blessing for coronavirus vaccine emergency use programme

The World Health Organization gave China its support and understanding to start administering experimental coronavirus vaccines to people while clinical trials were still underway, the Chinese health official Zheng Zhongwei said on Friday.

China launched its emergency programme in July, having communicated with the WHO in late June, according to Zhongwei

“At end-June, China’s State Council approved a plan of COVID-19 vaccine emergency use program,” Zheng told a news conference.

“After the approval, on June 29, we made a communication with the relevant representatives of the WHO Office in China, and obtained support and understanding from WHO,” Zheng said.