The listing by the UN health agency comes days after a WHO panel provided interim recommendations on the vaccine, saying two doses with an interval of around 8 to 12 weeks must be given to all adults, and can be used in countries with the South African variant of the coronavirus as well.

The WHO’s review found that the AstraZeneca vaccine met the “must-have” criteria for safety, and its efficacy benefits outweighed its risks.

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The Oxford-AstraZeneca shot has been hailed because it is cheaper and easier to distribute than some rivals, including Pfizer-BioNTech’s , which was listed for emergency use by the WHO late in December.

Nearly 109 million people have been reported to be infected by the novel coronavirus globally and more than 2.5 million have died, according to a Reuters tally.

Infections have been reported in more than 210 countries and territories since the first cases were identified in China in December 2019.

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Doses of AstraZeneca’s vaccine make up the lion’s share of doses in the COVAX coronavirus vaccine sharing scheme, with more than 330 million doses of the shot due to begin being rolled out to poorer countries from the end of February.

The WHO established its emergency use listing process to help poorer countries without their own regulatory resources quickly approve medicines for new diseases like COVID-19, which otherwise could lead to delays.

The COVAX Facility, which is co-led by GAVI, the World Health Organisation, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations and the UN Children’s Fund, has said doses would cover an average of 3.3 per cent of total populations of 145 participating countries.