Hong Kong (CNN) — The Chinese government approved the use of an experimental covid-19 vaccine for the country’s Armed Forces, the latest step in a global race to stop the deadly disease caused by the new coronavirus.
The vaccine, known as Ad5-nCoV, was jointly developed by the Beijing Institute of Biotechnology, part of the Chinese Government’s Academy of Military Medical Sciences, and the vaccine company CanSino Biologics.
In a statement to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on Monday, CanSino announced that the Chinese Central Military Commission had granted the vaccine a “specially needed military drug approval” on June 25. The special permit will last one year and will only apply to military personnel.
China has repeatedly insisted that its armed forces have not been affected by the pandemic, and officials say that the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) has not registered a single case of coronavirus.
However, US observers have questioned the claims, noting that the EPL is one of the largest standing armies in the world, making it statistically unlikely that its personnel have not been exposed to the virus.
Neither the Chinese government nor CanSino have said how widely the vaccine will be distributed, which units were selected, or whether it will be mandatory or voluntary for staff.
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CNN contacted CanSino to comment on the announcement.
According to a CanSino statement, clinical trials of the new vaccine have shown a “good safety profile” with initial results indicating that Ad5-nCoV had the potential to prevent disease caused by SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus strain. which causes covid-19.
CanSino had previously announced in May that the Canadian government was permitting human trials of the Ad5-nCoV vaccine. “This vaccine candidate is very promising,” Iain Stewart, president of the National Research Council of Canada, said in a statement at the time.
China is just one of several countries rushing to produce a vaccine for the new coronavirus, which has now infected more than 10.3 million people worldwide and killed at least 505,000.
There’s no clear picture of when a vaccine might be available, or even if it’s possible, but America’s top infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci said there is hope for a drug by the end of 2020. I don’t know. No vaccine has yet been approved for commercial release.
Currently, at least 17 vaccines are under clinical evaluation worldwide, according to the World Health Organization, eight of which are being developed in China.
According to CanSino’s statement, the first and second phases of their Ad5-nCoV vaccine trials have already been completed.
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Previous results of the Ad5-nCoV assays, published in the medical journal The Lancet, received a lukewarm response from experts. According to the study, nearly half of Ad5-nCoV vaccine recipients reported fever, with 44% describing fatigue and 39% reporting headache. Overall, 9% of patients described side effects that were severe enough to potentially “prevent activity.”
Talking to the Chinese state tabloid Global TimesLi Daguang, a professor at the National Defense University of the People’s Liberation Army, said authorities had followed “normal procedures” to approve the drug for military use and that its special status would change future development or marketing.
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