Yahoo TV

STORY: China’s new COVID vaccine has won its first national approval for use - but not in China.

Indonesia is the first nation to green light use of the shot.

On Friday (September 30) officials there said they would start producing it in the country.

Known as AWcorna, the vaccine uses the mRNA technology.

Penny Lukito is head of the Indonesia’s national food and drug agency:

“The emergency authorization can be given to premier and booster vaccinations for adults.”

Lukito said the new drug is over 71% effective against the highly contagious Omicron variant, and over 83% effective against some other strains.

However, there were no details on how the shot will be used in Indonesia.

More than 63% of its population is already fully vaccinated.

The country already uses mRNA vaccines made by Pfizer and others.

But the AWcorna shot has a longer shelf life, which could make it useful in Indonesia and other countries which have poor logistics in remote areas.