South China Morning Post :
China will have 600 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines ready for market this year and will make “a major announcement” soon, a scientist in charge of vaccine development said on Friday.
Wang Junzhi, from the Chinese Academy of Engineering and also deputy head of an expert task force on vaccine development under the State Council, made the remarks at a briefing in Wuhan.
“Regarding the development of Covid-19 vaccines, there will be a major news announcement in the coming one to two weeks.
It’s at the final stage now,” Wang said.
“As planned, there will be 600 million doses of inactivated vaccines ready for market launch this year.”
Inactivated vaccines use a conventional technique that involves killing off the virus in a lab and using it to trigger an immune response. Two such vaccines developed by China National Biotec Group (CNBG) and a third by Sinovac Biotech are in the final stage of clinical trials in South America, the Middle East and Asia but the drug makers have yet to release any of the phase 3 data needed for full regulatory approval.
The companies have already built the required high-level biosafety facilities and scaled up production.
Wang said China had the technology and standards in place to produce vaccines in such facilities, adding “that’s why our inactivated vaccines are leading the world”.
The US vaccine initiative, Operation Warp Speed, does not include the inactivated technique because of safety concerns.
China will have 600 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines ready for market this year and will make “a major announcement” soon, a scientist in charge of vaccine development said on Friday.
Wang Junzhi, from the Chinese Academy of Engineering and also deputy head of an expert task force on vaccine development under the State Council, made the remarks at a briefing in Wuhan.
“Regarding the development of Covid-19 vaccines, there will be a major news announcement in the coming one to two weeks.
It’s at the final stage now,” Wang said.
“As planned, there will be 600 million doses of inactivated vaccines ready for market launch this year.”
Inactivated vaccines use a conventional technique that involves killing off the virus in a lab and using it to trigger an immune response. Two such vaccines developed by China National Biotec Group (CNBG) and a third by Sinovac Biotech are in the final stage of clinical trials in South America, the Middle East and Asia but the drug makers have yet to release any of the phase 3 data needed for full regulatory approval.
The companies have already built the required high-level biosafety facilities and scaled up production.
Wang said China had the technology and standards in place to produce vaccines in such facilities, adding “that’s why our inactivated vaccines are leading the world”.
The US vaccine initiative, Operation Warp Speed, does not include the inactivated technique because of safety concerns.
