Indonesia approves use of China's Walvax's mRNA COVID vaccine

BEIJING: Indonesian food and drugs agency BPOM has approved the use of an mRNA COVID 19 vaccine developed by China's Walvax Biotechnology.

It is the first authorisation for a China-developed COVID shot based on novel mRNA technology, which Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna also use in their COVID vaccines after more than two years of development.

The AWcorna shot, designed to show how well it can reduce the risk of COVID cases and deaths from the disease, has yet to generate efficacy readings from large trials.

China hasn't yet authorized local use of the shot, previously known as ARCoV.

Walvax co-developed the vaccine with Suzhou Abogen Biosciences and a Chinese military-backed institution.

The two firms are working on their own coronaviruses variant-targeting candidates based on the mRNA technology.