BEIJING, Dec. 22 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese-produced polio vaccine has gained prequalification from the World Health Organization (WHO), according to China's state-owned Sinopharm Group.

The move indicates that the WHO, after a five-year prequalification process, has given the vaccine its stamp of approval in safety and efficacy, and United Nations procuring agencies may now source it.

Gaining WHO prequalification is an important step for the vaccine to be sold on the global market, said the Sinopharm Group.

The WHO has allowed Chinese vaccine producers to apply for rights to distribute their products globally since March 2011 and granted its first prequalification for a Chinese-produced vaccine in 2013.

Currently, the morbidity of polio has been lowered by 99 percent as more than 2.5 billion children have received polio vaccines since the WHO began an eradication initiative for the disease in 1988.