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HONG KONG, Oct 18 (SCMP): China’s decision to join Covax was seen as a boost to the global scheme to ensure fair access to Covid-19 vaccines for the poorest countries, but the membership could benefit itself. herself and to any country that receives her doses.
Joining the initiative, having initially chosen not to participate, will give China access to vaccines previously unavailable in its domestic market and could help its scandal-ridden vaccine industry gain the international recognition it has lacked. experts said.
Four Chinese candidates are in the final stage of human trials in the global race for a Covid-19 vaccine, while seven other Chinese candidates are in different stages of trials. Production facilities have been built in preparation, with a capacity expected to reach 610 million doses by the end of this year and 1 billion next, and are expected to meet China’s inoculation needs if those vaccines have been approved. .
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Nonetheless, the Chinese government agreed to purchase vaccines for 15 million people through Covax, and has increased the initiative’s resources by committing to deliver at least 2 billion doses of Chinese-made vaccines, if approved, for purposes next year to make them available. to its 172 member countries.
Insurance policy
These doses may also be necessary to meet China’s own domestic demand, said Tang Bei, an assistant professor in the faculty of international relations and public affairs at Shanghai University of International Studies.
“The Chinese vaccines look very promising, but joining Covax is like double insurance to have access to all the candidate vaccines acquired by Covax,” Tang said. Some candidate vaccines, including one developed by the German biotechnology company BioNTech and another by the University of Oxford and the biopharmaceutical company AstraZeneca, may be available in China through Chinese partners, but others, such as the one being developed by the American biotech company Modern, no.
“China may not need those vaccines, but in case its production capacity does not meet demand, it can use its rights to join Covax and buy the vaccines,” Tang said.
Covax: China is in, the United States is out, but what is it about?
Joining Covax is also an opportunity for Chinese domestic vaccine developers to increase their competitiveness and global presence, he said.
China showcase
“For China, joining Covax gives it the opportunity to demonstrate the responsibilities of a superpower and promote health diplomacy and international exchanges,” said a public health expert with experience in international vaccine procurement, whose name was withheld. because he was not authorized to discuss the import.
“It also lays the groundwork for Chinese vaccines to go abroad and will certainly increase their competitiveness in the international market.”
Nicole Hassoun, a philosophy professor at Binghamton University who has been studying equitable access to Covax, said: “It seems more likely that China will have the opportunity to sign a multi-million dollar deal with Covax that will allow Covax to secure billions of doses of vaccinations if Chinese vaccines prove to be safe and effective. “
Additionally, having the backing of internationally recognized entities, such as Covax co-founders, the World Health Organization (WHO), the Gavi Vaccine Alliance, and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness, could save Chinese vaccine manufacturers the burden of ashamed that they complain about exports of substandard personal protective equipment and test kits, Tang said.
Fast track to approval?
Three Chinese vaccine candidates have already been licensed for China’s emergency use program, but full approval is not expected until satisfactory safety and efficacy data are obtained from phase 3 trials. The approval of the Chinese drug regulator does not guarantee that Covax will accept them.
Covax will consider purchasing vaccines that complement its portfolio of producers around the world that are either approved by a high-level regulatory authority or classified as “prequalified” by the WHO, according to a Gavi spokesperson.
The WHO prequalification program assesses the quality, safety and efficacy of medicines for United Nations agencies such as Unicef. The four non-Covid-19 Chinese vaccines that had previously been prequalified under the program spent several years in preparation, but the program has the potential to accelerate vaccines for emergencies such as containing a pandemic.
If a Covid-19 vaccine passes human trials, how is it approved?
That, however, “depends primarily on the quality control capabilities of the national regulatory agency and vaccine manufacturers,” according to the public health expert with procurement experience.
Tainted past
China’s regulatory body, the National Medical Products Administration, approved the WHO assessment in 2011 and 2014 and will receive its third assessment in March.
But if they satisfy Covax, vaccine candidates would still have to pass the trust test for countries to use them, and several recent Chinese vaccine scandals have yet to fade from memory.
In 2016, vaccines worth 570 million yuan (85 million US dollars) were seized in eastern Shandong province because they had been improperly stored and transported.
Two years later, Changsheng Bio-tech, a vaccine developer in northeast China’s Changchun city, was found to have falsified production and inspection records and changed process parameters for a human rabies vaccine, and had produced deficient vaccines for diphtheria, whooping cough and tetanus (known as DPT vaccines) that had been administered to 215,000 children.
Chinese vaccine scandal may hamper Covid-19 control
In 2017, more than 400,000 substandard DPT vaccines produced by the Wuhan Institute of Biological Products were sold in two Chinese provinces. Like two of the four Chinese vaccine manufacturers that have obtained WHO prequalification status, the Wuhan Institute is a subsidiary of the China National Biotec Group. The Wuhan Institute also produces one of four Chinese Covid-19 vaccines that are now in phase 3 human trials.
The public health expert said those scandals had damaged the industry and the country’s image, but the fact that the drug regulator had uncovered the problems indicated that the regulator was working and capable.
“In the wake of these incidents, China adopted a strict vaccine law, which promotes quality control,” he said.
Zha Daojiong, an expert in foreign relations at Peking University, said joint development projects with foreign partners lead to quality assessment and brand recognition.
Calling it “a form of vaccine nationalism,” Zha said it was “conceivable” for governments to base their vaccine import decisions on factors other than quality, such as nationality or geopolitics.
“Foreign skepticism about a product made in China is a fact of life,” he said. – South China Morning Mail
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