The World Health Organization expects to release its assessments for emergency use listing of the two main Chinese vaccines for COVID-19 as well as the Moderna shot by the end of next week, WHO Assistant Director-General Mariangela Simao said on Friday.

Simao said the WHO's independent panel was assessing the Moderna vaccine and a vaccine from China's Sinopharm on Friday and was due to look at China's other main vaccine, made by Sinovac Biotech, next week.

"So, by the beginning of next week or the end of next week we will have the final assessment of these three vaccines out," she told a briefing.

WHO emergency use listing is a signal to national regulators that a vaccine is safe and effective, and would allow those vaccines to be bought and distributed by COVAX, the international programme to share vaccines for poor countries.

REUTERS