China vaccination for high-risk groups will be prioritized over the winter and spring before, according to a senior health official.
Zeng Yixin, vice minister of China’s National Health Commission (NHC) and director of State Council’s vaccine R&D working group, said that the mitigation efforts of China against Covid-19 were facing pressure as temperatures drop.
“During the winter and spring seasons, carrying out novel coronavirus vaccination work among some key population groups is of great significance to epidemic prevention,” he told a briefing.
China plans to actively achieve group immunity. China vaccination focused on high-risk groups is just the first part of a “step-by-step program,” Yixin said.
High-risk groups include workers in the cold chain industry, healthcare, markets, customs, and public transport.
China considers two candidate vaccines from Sinopharm and one from Sinovac Biotech in an emergency-use program introduced in July, prioritizing high-infection risk groups such as medical workers and border inspectors.
It has also authorized a vaccine from CanSino Biologics for military use but has not approved any vaccine for use among the public.
Zheng Zhongwei, the NHC official heading China’s Covid-19 vaccine development team, reported that China had given more than 1 million emergency doses to members of high-risk groups since July and “no serious adverse reactions” have been found so far.
“For the vaccines where we are moving quite fast, the number of cases required for the interim stage of Phase III clinical trials have already been obtained,” Zheng said, though he did not mention which products.
China vaccination
China’s Covid vaccines may attract developing countries that may face a long wait if they want a vaccine from the West, according to Taimur Baig, chief economist and managing director at DBS Group Research.
“Considering the billions of doses needed, and the risk [of] falling at the back of a very long line for Western vaccines, the appeal of the Chinese vaccines is apparent,” Baig said.
Poorer countries may find Western vaccines expensive once they are approved by regulators.
Citi said that developed countries have sealed 85% of total bilateral pre-orders of coronavirus vaccines. Countries such as the U.S., U.K., Australia, Canada, Japan, and those in the European Union have secured supplies that go beyond the number of their populations.
China is home to five vaccine candidates in phase three trials, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. This is considered the final step before government regulators approve the vaccine for approval.
Sinopharm, or China National Pharmaceutical Group, reportedly applied for approval last week. The company has two vaccine candidates, but it is not certain if both are candidates for regulatory approval. Beijing has pledged to help countries like Cambodia and Malaysia.
There is not much data about the efficacy of China’s Covid vaccines. The state-controlled Global Times this month released a story applauding the country’s coronavirus vaccines as “very effective.”
According to Reuters, the country gave three vaccines to limited groups under an emergency use program. About one million people have taken an experimental vaccine developed by Sinopharm.
Such an approach is “unconventional,” according to Dale Fisher, a professor at the National University of Singapore’s Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine.
“It is normal to wait for an analysis of phase three trials before ramping up a vaccine program through emergency use authorization,” said Fisher, who is also chair of the World Health Organization (WHO) Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network.
