BEIJING – China approved its first local COVID-19 vaccine for general use, fitness regulators said Thursday, marking the addition of a vaccine in global combat against a virus that is reappearing in many places as winter approaches.
The two-dose vaccine of Sinopharm is the first to be approved for general use in China. The green softness comes shortly after the country introduced a program to vaccinate another 50 million people before the Lunar New Year holiday in February. UK regulators approved AstraZeneca’s affordable and easy-to-use vaccine.
Consecutive approvals can lead to poorer countries, many of which have not been to download doses of Pfizer and Modern purchased through rich countries, a step closer to downloading vaccines before. The Sinopharm vaccine, two days after its death toll exceeded 10,000.
Technically, China has granted conditional approval for the vaccine, studies are still ongoing, and the company will need to submit follow-up knowledge as well as reports of any adverse reactions after the vaccine is sold on the market, Chen Shifei, the assistant commissioner of the National Medical Products Administration, said at a press conference.
The vaccine evolved through the Beijing Institute of Biological Products, a subsidiary of the state-sponsored synopharmaceutical conglomerate. The company announced Wednesday that initial knowledge of last-tier trials had shown that it was 79. 3% effective.
It’s an inactivated vaccine, which means the virus grows in a lab and then kills it. The germ is then injected into the frame to generate an immune response.
The definitive evidence of its effectiveness will be the publication of more knowledge. Experts said vital knowledge was lacking since Wednesday’s announcement, such as the length of the group, the number of other people vaccinated, and how much the 79. 3% efficiency rate was reached after the announcement. the injection.
Sinopharm is one of at least five Chinese developers participating in a race to create vaccines against the disease that has killed more than 1. 8 million people.
In addition to ongoing emergency vaccines, China plans to start vaccinating high-risk populations, such as the elderly and others with existing chronic diseases, but the authorities did not specify what percentage of the population they would vaccinate in China.
“It’s another one in every country, but the general view is that we want to succeed in 60% of the entire population,” said Zeng Yixin, deputy minister of the National Health Commission.
Since emergency use, 4. 5 million doses have already been administered, adding 3 million in the following two weeks, Zeng said.
In practice, conditional approval means that the drug or product in question may be limited for certain age groups, according to Tao Lina, a former immunologist at the Shanghai Centers for Disease Control.
Officials refused to convene a specific award and have made conflicting statements in this regard. “It will be within the limits of what other people can afford,” said Zheng Zhongwei, another official of the National Health Commission.
A minute later, Zeng, the head of the NHC, stepped in to say that vaccines “will be loose for the public. “
The vaccine is already in mass production, officials have not answered questions about existing production capacity.
The Chinese vaccine, like the Russian Sputnik vaccine, may be less difficult for countries around the world to care for than Pfizer or Moderna vaccines, which have stricter bloodless chain requirements. The Sinopharm vaccine can be stored between 2 and 8 degrees Celsius (36 to 46 degrees Fahrenheit) or at a general cooling temperature.
Belarus and Argentina introduced mass vaccination of the Russian vaccine on Wednesday. The Sinopharm vaccine has already been approved in the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, and is expected to be used soon in Morocco.
Other countries have also purchased doses of the Chinese candidate vaccine, manufactured through Sinovac Biotech. Turkey won shipments of 3 million doses this week. Indonesia and Brazil bought Sinovac vaccines.
China is eager to distribute its vaccines worldwide, driven by a preference to repair the damage caused to its symbol through the pandemic that began a year ago in the central city of Wuhan.
President Xi Jinping has promised to donate the vaccine as a global public and China has joined COVAX, a global plan for equivalent distribution and access.
“We look to the Chinese vaccines that will soon be included in the COVAX vaccine bank and soon we will get the prequalification of WHO,” said Shen Bo, an official in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Vaccination criteria were developed in “close cooperation” with WHO, he said.
Obtaining the WHO rating can ensure the quality and efficacy of Chinese vaccines, which are already facing a reputational challenge in the country. It would also pave the way for the distribution of Chinese vaccines in COVAX and, potentially, in countries that do not have their own regulations. Agencies.
“It’s very exciting that there’s a vaccine that can be distributed in positions that don’t have the bloodless chain,” Ashley St said. John, immunologist at Duke-NUS School of Medicine in Singapore. But at the same time, we have to encourage emotion. We want to perceive long-term effectiveness, the effect on transmission and the effect on serious diseases”.
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Wu reported from Taipei, Taiwan.
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The call from China’s drug regulator has been corrected to the National Medical Products Administration and not to the Medical Production Administration.
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