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BEIJING: China has approved a new COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use, one that was developed by the director of its Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), adding to its arsenal.
Gao Fu, director of the China CDC, led the development of a protein subunit vaccine that was approved by regulators last week for emergency use, the Institute of Microbiology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences said in a statement on Monday. .
It is the fourth vaccine of its kind to be approved for emergency use. China has approved four vaccines developed by three Chinese companies for general use.
The vaccine was developed jointly by Anhui Zhifei Longcom Biopharmaceutical and the Chinese Academy of Sciences. The team completed phase one and phase two clinical trials in October last year and is currently conducting the last phase of trials in Uzbekistan, Pakistan and Indonesia, according to the statement.
The vaccine was approved for use in Uzbekistan on March 1.
The protein subunit vaccine is similar to many of the other vaccines that have been approved globally in that it trains the body to recognize the spike protein that covers the surface of the coronavirus vaccine, although the difference it lies in how it tells the body to recognize the virus. protein.
Scientists grow a harmless version of the protein in cells and then purify it, before assembling it into a vaccine and injecting it.
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There is no publicly available information in peer-reviewed scientific journals on clinical trial data demonstrating efficacy or safety.
A company spokesperson said the data could not be shared at this time, but that the company was actively providing the information to health authorities.
China has been slow to vaccinate its population of 1.4 billion, despite having four vaccines approved for general use. The latest figures, according to government officials at a press conference in Beijing on Monday, are that it has administered 64.98 million doses of vaccines.
China has focused on what it considers key populations for vaccination so far, namely healthcare workers, as well as those working at the border or in customs, and the specific industries the government has targeted.
A second group, which has been conspicuously absent so far compared to many other countries, has been older people and people with pre-existing conditions.
Previously, vaccines were limited to adults ages 18 to 59, as officials cited a lack of clinical trial data for older people, although the government appears to be signaling that limits are now being pushed aside.
“We will immediately carry out mass vaccination of relevant populations,” Li Bin, vice chairman of the National Health Commission, said on Monday.
China’s official Xinhua news agency reported over the weekend that in certain neighborhoods in Beijing, local health centers had started offering the vaccines to people 60 and older.
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