Senior Chinese health official revealed on state television that it was already being administered to people since July 22 under emergency use authorisation.
Coronavirus vaccine tracker: While Russia is facing criticism for approving a novel Coronavirus vaccine without completing all the mandatory tests, it has now emerged that China has already begun injecting its people with a vaccine which is still under development. The vaccine in question, being developed by state-owned Sinopharm, is currently undergoing phase-3 trials in the United Arab Emirates. But senior Chinese health official revealed on state television that it was already being administered to people since July 22 under emergency use authorisation.
A report in The Washington Post said the head of China’s Coronavirus vaccine development programme, Zheng Zongwei had acknowledged on state television that medical workers and some government workers were being given this vaccine since July 22, and that it was likely to be given to many more people in the coming months.
“In order to prevent the disease spread in the fall and winter, we are considering a moderate expansion in the programme… The purpose would be to first build and immunity barrier among special groups in the population,” Zheng is reported to have said.
This vaccine is different from the one that has been approved for use only on the soldiers of China’s People’s Liberation Army. That vaccine, developed b CanSino Biologics in collaboration with Academy of Military Medical Sciences, was approved for limited use in the last week of June. There is no information on the number of people who have already been injected with that vaccine.
Sinopharm vaccine, therefore, is the first vaccine to be authorised for use on general public, though only on special groups right now.
With inputs from The Indian Express
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by Kashmir Today staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)