Philippines, Argentina approve Chinese vaccines

The Philippines and Argentina have become the latest countries to approve Chinese-developed COVID-19 vaccines for emergency use.

A vaccine from China's Sinovac Biotech on Monday was cleared for use in the Philippines, which is one of the countries hardest hit by the coronavirus in Southeast Asia. A similar authorization was granted in Argentina on Sunday for a vaccine developed by Sinopharm.

Enrique Domingo, director general of the Philippines' Food and Drug Administration, or FDA, said the approval for the Sinovac vaccine was granted "after a thorough and rigorous review of the currently available published and unpublished data by our regulatory and medical experts".