TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) – China has approved a new COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use, which was developed by the head of its Center for Disease Control, adding a fifth shot to its arsenal.
Gao Fu, the head of China’s CDC, led the development of a vaccine against the protein subunit that was approved last week by regulators for emergency use, the Institute of Microbiology said Monday. the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
It is the fifth coronavirus vaccine approved in China and the fourth to be approved for emergency use. Three of those that received emergency approval have been approved for general use. All were developed by Chinese companies.
The latest vaccine was jointly developed by Anhui Zhifei Longcom Biopharmaceutical Co.Ltd and the Chinese Academy of Sciences. The team completed Phase 1 and Phase 2 clinical trials in October and is currently conducting the final phase of trials in Uzbekistan, Pakistan and Indonesia, according to the statement.
The vaccine was approved for use in Uzbekistan on March 1. It is a three-dose shot that is split by one month each between two shots, a company spokesman said. Like other vaccines that China has developed so far, it can be stored at normal refrigeration temperatures.
There is no publicly available information in peer-reviewed scientific journals on data from clinical trials demonstrating efficacy or safety. A company spokesman said the data could not be shared at the time, but that the company provided the information to health authorities.
The protein subunit vaccine is similar to many of the other vaccines that have been approved worldwide, as it enables the body to recognize the spike protein that covers the surface of the coronavirus, although the difference lies in the form in which it tells the body to recognize the protein. . Scientists grow a harmless version of the protein into cells and then purify it before assembling it into a vaccine and injecting it.
China has been slow to vaccinate its population of 1.4 billion people, despite having four vaccines approved for general use. The latest figures, according to government officials at a press conference in Beijing on Monday, are that it has administered 64.98 million doses of vaccines.
China has so far targeted key populations for vaccination, namely health workers, those working at the border or customs, and specific industries that the government has selected. Other groups that have been remarkably absent so far compared to many other countries are the elderly and those with pre-existing conditions.
The previously approved vaccines were limited to adults aged 18 to 59, as officials cited a lack of data from clinical trials for the elderly, although the government appears to indicate that they are being discontinued. band the boundaries.
“We will quickly carry out mass vaccination of the relevant populations,” Li Bin, vice chairman of the National Health Commission, said Monday.
The official Chinese news agency Xinhua News reported over the weekend that in some neighborhoods in Beijing, local health centers began offering vaccines to those 60 years of age or older.
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This story has been corrected to show that the vaccine enables the body to recognize the spike protein that covers the surface of the coronavirus, not the surface of the coronavirus vaccine.