Australia recognized China’s Sinovac Biotech Ltd. Covid-19 shot and India-made AstraZeneca Plc jabs, paving the way for overseas travelers and fee-paying foreign students who have received those vaccinations to enter the country.
The nation’s top drugs regulator, the Therapeutic Goods Administration, said the shots should be “recognized vaccines” in determining incoming travelers as being inoculated, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said Friday.
Australia is starting to unwind some of the world’s most intense pandemic border restrictions as vaccination rates across the country approach as key threshold of 80%. Recognition of Beijing-based Sinovac’s shot, which has been approved by the World Health Organization for emergency use, contrasts with the U.K. and neighboring New Zealand, which are yet to endorse it.
A number of European countries have said they will accept the vaccine, known as Coronavac, as part of programs for vaccinated entry.
Friday’s announcement potentially opens the door to thousands of foreign students that have been shut out of Australia during the pandemic.
Vaccines made by Sinovac and the state-owned Sinopharm are among the most used in China, and have efficacy rates ranging from around 50% to 80% in preventing symptomatic Covid, lower than the mRNA vaccines developed out of the U.S. Sinovac is also one of the most-deployed Covid shots globally, used from Indonesia to Brazil and Turkey. Chile said earlier this week it would start administering it to children age six to 11.
