FILE - In this Dec. 25, 2020, file photo, released by Xinhua News Agency, packages of COVID-19 inactivated vaccine products are seen at a production plant of the Beijing Biological Products Institute Co., Ltd, a unit of state-owned Sinopharm in Beijing. China has given conditional approval to a coronavirus vaccine developed by state-owned Sinopharm. The vaccine is the first one approved for general use in China.(Zhang Yuwei/Xinhua via AP, File)
BEIJING — China authorized its first homegrown COVID-19 vaccine for general use Thursday, adding another shot that could see wide use in poorer countries as the virus surges back around the globe.