China authorized its first home-made vaccine COVID-19 for general use on Thursday, adding another injection that could be widely used in poorer countries as the virus returns around the world.
The Sinopharm vaccine had previously been given to groups such as health professionals and essential workers under emergency use guidelines as part of China’s program to inoculate 50 million people before the Lunar New Year holiday in February. But the green light should allow the product to be delivered more widely at home and will bring Beijing closer to being able to send it abroad. It comes a day after British regulators authorized AstraZeneca’s cheap, easy-to-handle vaccine.
Both shots were closely watched by developing countries, many of whom failed to ensure that doses of Pfizer and Moderna were purchased by wealthy countries. Pakistan’s science minister said on Thursday that his government would buy 1.2 million doses of a dose of Sinopharm, two days after the death toll reached 10,000.
In this archive photo from December 25, 2020, released by the Xinhua News Agency, a team member inspects inactivated syringes of COVID-19 vaccines at a packaging factory at Beijing Biological Products Institute Co., Ltd, a unit of state-owned Sinopharm in Beijing. (Zhang Yuwei / Xinhua via AP, Archive)
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The green light came a day after the state-owned company announced that preliminary data from the last stage tests showed that it was 79.3% effective. That announcement did not detail the size of the control group, how many people were vaccinated and at what point the efficacy rate was achieved after the injection, and experts warned that the trial data needs to be shared.
Officials said the vaccine standards were developed in “close cooperation” with the World Health Organization. Ensuring WHO’s so-called prequalification could help in some way to guarantee the quality of Chinese vaccines to the rest of the world, which already face a reputation problem at home. It would also pave the way for vaccines to be distributed in the global vaccine consortium, COVAX, and potentially in countries that do not have their own regulatory agencies.
China is eager to distribute its vaccines globally, driven by a desire to repair the damage to its image caused by the pandemic that started a year ago in the central city of Wuhan.
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Technically, China has granted conditional approval for the vaccine, which means that the research is still ongoing, and the company will be required to provide follow-up data, as well as reports of any adverse effects after the vaccine is sold on the market, Chen Shifei , the deputy commissioner of the National Administration of Medical Products, at a press conference. The final proof of its effectiveness will depend on the publication of more data.
Sinopharm, who has another injection under development, is one of at least five Chinese developers who are in a global race to create vaccines for the disease that has killed more than 1.8 million people. Although the photos from Pfizer and Moderna have been received with much fanfare in the West, these photos must be stored in deep-frozen or freezing temperatures, complicating distribution.
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The Sinopharm vaccine, like AstraZeneca, could be easier for countries around the world to handle, as they can be stored at normal refrigerator temperatures.
Both shots, like Russia’s Sputnik, are expected to supply much of the developing world. This means that the cost will also be important. AstraZeneca is expected to cost about $ 2.50 a dose, while Russia said its doses will cost $ 10 for the global market. Pfizer’s vaccine costs about $ 20, while Moderna’s ranges from $ 15 to $ 25, based on agreements with the United States government.
Chinese authorities have refused to quote a specific price and have made conflicting statements about it. One official said it would be accessible to the Chinese public, but another intervened to clarify that it would be free. President Xi Jinping had previously promised to donate a vaccine made in China to the world as a public good.
The Sinopharm outlet is already in mass production, although officials have not answered questions about current capacity. It has already been approved in the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain and should be used soon in Morocco.
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Other countries have also been buying doses of another Chinese candidate vaccine, made by Sinovac Biotech. Turkey received shipments this week of 3 million doses, and Indonesia and Brazil also purchased.
Belarus and Argentina launched vaccines en masse on Wednesday with the vaccine from Russia, and Guinea began to distribute it to government officials.
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In addition to the emergency vaccinations already underway in China, the country plans to start vaccinating high-risk populations, such as the elderly, as well as people with existing chronic diseases. Officials did not say what percentage of the population will vaccinate in China.
“It is very exciting that there is another vaccine and that it can be distributed in places where there is no cold chain,” said Ashley St. John, an immunologist at Duke-NUS Medical School in Singapore. “But at the same time, we have to moderate the excitement. We have to understand the long-term effectiveness, the effect on transmission and the effect on serious illnesses.”