TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) – Provincial governments across China were placing their orders for experimental vaccines against the coronavirus produced locally, although health authorities still did not know exactly how well they worked or how they could reach 1.4 billion people. in the country.
Laboratories were finishing their latest tests, the Chinese foreign minister said at a United Nations meeting on Thursday, while Britain has authorized emergency use of the Pfizer Inc. vaccine candidate and suppliers tried to organize distribution. .
The fledgling Chinese pharmaceutical industry has at least five vaccines from four companies in clinical trials in more than a dozen countries, including Russia, Egypt and Mexico. Health experts say that even if they are successful, the certification process for the United States, Europe, Japan and other developed countries could be too complex to be used there. However, China said it would make sure its products were affordable for developing countries.
One of the producers, China National Pharmaceutical Group, known as Sinopharm, indicated in November that it had applied for final marketing authorization for its vaccine in China. Others have been authorized for emergency use in healthcare personnel and others considered to be at great risk of contagion.
“We must be prepared for large-scale production,” said Sun Chunlan, the deputy prime minister who has overseen much of the pandemic’s management in the country, during a visit to developers on Wednesday, according to the official news agency. Xinhua.
Sun visited one of the subsidiaries in Beijing in Sinopharm; another company, Sinovac, and a research laboratory included in the National Medical Products Administration, a regulatory agency that authorizes the use of medical products.
The government has not yet said how many people it plans to vaccinate. Sun said plans are aimed at vaccinating border personnel and other high-risk groups this month.
Chinese companies use more traditional techniques than Western manufacturers.
Unlike Pfizer’s vaccine, which must be kept at temperatures as low as 70 degrees Celsius (minus 94 degrees Fahrenheit), they have noted that theirs can be stored between 2 and 8 degrees Celsius (36 to 46 Fahrenheit) . Chinese manufacturers have not yet detailed how they might distribute the drugs.
More than one million people in China have received experimental vaccines within the emergency authorization. Health experts question why it has been done so massively now, when the outbreak is largely controlled within its borders.
Health authorities said earlier that China could manufacture 610 million doses by the end of this year and expand the figure to 1 billion doses next year.
At this time, manufacturers have not released data on the effectiveness and possible side effects of their vaccines.
Sinpharm has clinical trials underway in 10 countries, including the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Jordan, Peru, and Argentina, with nearly 60,000 volunteers. It has built two centers in China that can manufacture 200 million doses a year.
Sinovac, for its part, has trials in Brazil, Turkey and Indonesia. Its most recent publication, a study published in the scientific journal The Lancet, showed that its candidate produced lower levels of antibodies than those of people recovered from COVID-19. The company estimated that it could produce a few million doses of the vaccine by February or March 2021.
Another manufacturer, CanSino, conducts trials in Russia, Pakistan and Mexico, and aims to reach agreements with Latin American countries. His vaccine, which has been used by the Chinese military under emergency authorization, uses a harmless adenovirus to deliver genes to human cells and generate an immune response.
A fourth company, Anhui Zhifei Longcom Biologic Pharmacy Co, is conducting its latest trials at various locations in China.
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Associated Press journalist Olivia Zhang contributed to this report.
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