Chinese vaccines progress steadily as more nations mull mass inoculation
By Hu Yuwei and Zhang Han Source: Global Times Published: 2020/12/3 22:08:40 Last Updated: 2020/12/3 22:20:40
Chinese vaccines progress steadily for approval
Photo: VCG
As more countries, including the UK, Japan and Russia, are eager to roll out mass vaccination programs to combat the deadly coronavirus, China stressed a scientific and diversified pathway to mass vaccination that can satisfy global criteria.
Chinese-developed vaccines report steady progress domestically, while also hearing good news from outside partners. Turkey on Thursday announced a vaccination plan with China's inactivated vaccine later this month, with the first shipment of the Chinese vaccines arriving in Turkey after December 11.
China's fifth vaccine entering Phase III trials - recombinant subunit vaccine - has started recruiting 29,000 volunteers worldwide to the trials in China, Uzbekistan, Indonesia, Pakistan, and Ecuador, the Chinese Academy of Sciences announced on Thursday.
The Global Times learned from the co-developer of the vaccine, Anhui Zhifei Longcom Biopharmaceutical, that the multi-centered trial aims to test some indicators designed in the trials at home, while others are best verified overseas. The bridging experiments linking the domestic and overseas ones are valued for the scientific marketing of vaccine.
So far, 14 diverse Chinese vaccines using five different technology methods are in clinical trials, and five vaccines are undergoing Phase III trials.
East China's Jiangsu Province announced on Thursday it would start vaccine procurement from leading producers, including Sinopharm and Sinovac. It became the latest province to secure its doses after Zhejiang and Sichuan provinces.
Chinese Vice Premier Sun Chunlan stressed a scientific and rigorous preparation for the mass production of the vaccine during an inspection tour of vaccine production lines in Beijing on Wednesday, the same day the UK became the first Western country to approve Pfizer's coronavirus vaccine for mass use.
Sun called for data review and approval work to progress in accordance with strict rules and internationally recognized technical standards.
The visit was seen as a prelude for the vaccine coming to the market following a rigorous and scientific path, despite some countries rushing to mass inoculation to handle new outbreaks that may get worse in winter.
Russia and the UK announced on Wednesday they would start mass vaccinations next week. Japan passed a bill to provide free coronavirus vaccines to every single citizen, with secured offers from US pharmaceutical giants Pfizer and Moderna.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott also announced on Wednesday that the state will receive over 1.4 million doses of the vaccine. It is part of US efforts to begin vaccinating US citizens as early as mid-December, as the pandemic hit the highest daily death toll on Wednesday in six months.
China International Capital Corporation, one of the country's top investment banks, predicted in a report on Thursday that there is a high probability to hear a Chinese-developed vaccine getting official approval before the yearend.
China is very likely to introduce its first officially approved vaccine for mass use in December. It will either be the inactivated vaccine from Sinovac or state-owned Sinopharm, a Beijing-based immunological professor who asked not to be named told the Global Times.
With competitive costs and easier logistics, Chinese-developed vaccines have been favored by some Latin American countries, including Mexico and Brazil.
The Global Times learned from the Sinovac's Brazilian partner Butantan Institute that the data from the vaccine trials across Brazil have been sent to the Brazilian National Health Surveillance Agency. Sinovac told the Global Times that analysis of the clinical data will take some time.
Outside Latin America, Turkey on Thursday announced a vaccination plan starting with Chinese-developed inactivated vaccine later this month, after local trial results revealed zero serious adverse reactions.
Such normal cooperation was tagged by the US media as China's "vaccine diplomacy" to win support in Latin America, which again proved the US is gauging China's generosity with its own mean measure, analysts said.
The US has long seen Latin America as its "backyard," and even though it cannot supply them with vaccines, it does not allow China to do so, Lü Xiang, a research fellow on US studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times on Thursday.
However, US media's "arms race" discourse is unnecessary as in the next six months global vaccine manufacturers can hardly meet the global demand, given that the pandemic has caused 64.5 million infections worldwide, Lü said. He added that countries with capability should try to produce as many as possible.
It is the US that is in urgent need to boast its success in vaccines because it had lost face for its failure in epidemic control, Lü said.
The expert stressed that if there is a vaccine race, "it is not between China and the US, but a race against time to save lives."
The deadly pandemic has killed nearly 1.5 million people globally so far.
The US can feel free to continue its "America first" strategy, prioritizing domestic needs and supplying its allies, but it should not be narrow-minded and hinder China's cooperation and aid to other countries, the expert said.
Politicizing vaccine issues would harm the vulnerable groups more than others, experts said, noting that the Chinese vaccine would be an ideal choice for places that cannot guarantee quick logistics and ultra-freezing equipments.
