Published 12:18 IST, October 19th 2020
China extends emergency use authorization of COVID-19 vaccine to 3 more cities
China's three cities located in East China’s Zhejiang Province have ramped up the efforts for manufacturing and supply of the emergency COVID-19 vaccines.
On October 18, China extended the emergency use authorization of its 11 COVID-19 vaccines in different phases of trials to at least 3 more cities as its experimental candidates for SARS-CoV-2 await “last approval”. The three cities located in East China’s Zhejiang Province have ramped up the efforts for manufacturing and supply of the emergency COVID-19 vaccines to its population having received precedence for some key teams, state-run Global Times confirmed, citing sources of The Paper.
Cities of Yiwu, Ningbo, and Shaoxing are looking forward to vaccinating its population against the coronavirus infections followed by the town of Jiaxing, having prioritized the immunization for the vulnerable and key groups before vaccinating the general population. Health authorities in Jiaxing said in the press address that the cities have been administering inactivated COVID-19 vaccines among the high-risk population, basis age factor, and to the essential workers in the forefront to combat COVID-19. The vaccination would eventually move to the ordinary population and the less vulnerable group.
China joined the World Health Organization's (WHO) COVAX alliance earlier this month to equitably distribute COVID-19 vaccines to the developing countries.WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus had urged the nations worldwide to countries t become a part of WHO’s COVAX vaccine program latest by October 9, adding, that the new deadline would help ensure that immunizations are "fairly and efficiently distributed". As many as 92 lower-income nations sought assistance via the COVAX facility, the WHO informed in a release. On October 8, China and Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance officially collaborated with WHO’s COVAX facility, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said in a statement.
Already started inoculating
Meanwhile, according to China’s several state-run reports, the communist nation has already started inoculating tens of thousands of citizens with experimental coronavirus vaccines manufactured by the Chinese pharmaceutical company Biotech Group Co. which is a subsidiary of state-owned Sinopharm. According to sources of New Yorker, China rolled out a vaccine called Xinxing Guanzhuang Bingdu Miehuo Yimiao (Vero Xibao) speculating that US President Donald Trump might make a vaccine available before the 2020 November elections.
Chief innovation officer at the University of Hong Kong, Yiwu He reportedly said that Xi Jinping’s goal was to have a vaccine approved ahead of the US, and China’s National Biotec Group, or C.N.B.G, known as the country’s largest vaccine manufacturer gave some level of approval to the vaccine for October. The company, that had 2 experimental vaccines in the phase III trial signed documents with China’s regulatory commission, accelerating the process which otherwise takes between 6 months to a year.
Updated 12:17 IST, October 19th 2020