The World Health Organization (WHO) Tuesday approved the Chinese Sinovac coronavirus vaccine produced by the Beijing-based pharmaceutical company Sinovac, for emergency use.

This move gives countries, funders, vaccine procurement agencies, and communities guarantees that the vaccine meets international safety standards, efficacy and manufacturing.

The organization said in a statement Tuesday, that the Sinovac vaccine is an inactivated virus vaccine, and has easy storage requirements, making it easy to administer, and is particularly suitable for low-resource settings.

The WHO's Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization (SAGE) has completed its review of the vaccine, and based on the available evidence, they recommended that the vaccine be given to adults aged 18 and over, in two doses, two to four weeks apart.

Vaccine efficacy results showed that the vaccine prevented symptomatic disease in 51 percent of those vaccinated and prevented severe COVID-19 and hospitalization in 100 percent of the studied population, the WHO said.