China in talks with WHO to get its locally produced vaccine assessed for global use

China has proposed to have its locally-produced COVID-19 vaccines assessed by the World Health Organisation, an official said on October 6. Speaking at a news conference, Socorro Escalalte, WHO’s coordinator for essential medicines and health technologies in the Western Pacific region said that Beijing has held preliminary talks with WHO asking it to include the locally produced vaccine in the list for emergency use.

Being listed in the WHO’s emergency use procedure allows unlicensed vaccines and treatments to be assessed. If the vaccine passes the test, it can be easily available for public use. The vaccines are tested in such including as Pakistan, Indonesia, Brazil, Russia and the United Arab Emirates. The listing process also helps WHO member states and UN procurement agencies to determine the acceptability of the vaccines.

China has at least four experimental vaccines in the final stage of clinical trials - two are developed by state-backed China National Biotec Group (CNBG), and the remaining two are from Sinovac Biotech SVA.O and CanSino Biologics 6185.HK688185.SS respectively. 

Mass vaccination

Separately, a report stated that Beijing was injecting unproven vaccines to its citizens before requisite regulatory approvals. The vaccine candidates which are still in development stages are being injected to citizens at a mass scale, from government and state-owned companies' employees to supermarket workers, teachers, transportation workers and even vaccine staff, reports state.

Read: China's Shocking Covid Vaccine Race Desperation Exposed: Mass Injections, Little Choice

Read: China To Conduct Trials In November For First Nasal Spray Vaccine To Combat COVID-19

The Chinese authorities are making plans to give vaccine shots at an even larger scale in a big gamble that the vaccines will eventually be proven to be efficacious, the New York Times reported. This is relevant since being the first to have a proven vaccine and manufacturing it at scale is likely to prove internationally lucrative, something that is evidenced by Russia's similar rush and subsequent criticism of the Sputnik V vaccine. 

The vaccines could well be life-threatening or with harmful side effects, but the employees may not even have the option to refuse the doses, Dr Kim Mulholland, a paediatrician at the Murdoch Children's Research Institute in Australia opined. "My worry for the employees of the companies is it may be difficult for them to refuse," Mulholland was quoted as saying.

Read: How India’s Strategic, Military And Economic Moves Put China On The Backfoot

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 Image: AP