4 | Friday, September 11, 2020 HONG KONG EDITION | CHINA DAILY CHINA Scientist says Buy some books candidate for vaccine is safe Chinese expert reassures investors after patient in UK using similar drug falls ill
By ZHANG ZHIHAO similar, given human’s genetic simi [email protected] larity to chimpanzee, but their dif ferences are poorly understood and CanSino Biologics’ top scientist are still being studied. said on Wednesday that its vaccine “It may ultimately come down to candidate for COVID19 is generally preference, cost and availability,” said safe and effective, reassuring inves a Beijing biology professor who tors after clinical trials for the same requested anonymity. “Scientists have type of vaccine developed in the Unit long used the chimpanzeederived ed Kingdom were paused when a viral vectors because humans have lit participant was suspected of having tle exposure to these viruses, and thus a lifethreatening adverse reaction. our immune system will be less likely On Wednesday, the Phase 3 clini to attack these harmless vectors, cal trials for the UK vaccine, devel ensuring the vaccine’s potency.” oped by Oxford University and “On the other hand, humande biotech company AstraZeneca, were rived viral vectors may be safer since shut down across the globe after a they came from our body, but it also woman in the UK trial experienced means more people may have symptoms similar to a rare but seri immunity against these vectors. So Hosts promote books during a livestream session at the launch of the 2020 China Huangshan Book Fair in Hefei, Anhui province, ous spinal cord inflammatory disor the vaccine may not be as effective on Thursday. The fourday event will feature some 100,000 titles. ZHANG DAGANG / FOR CHINA DAILY der called transverse myelitis, per dosage, and certain demograph according to United States medical ics, such as the elderly, may need news website Stat News. booster shots,” the professor said. The volunteer’s diagnosis and the Zhu said the Ad5nCoV is expect cause of the illness have not been con ed to provide two years of protection, firmed, but she is reported to be and current evidence said one dose District prospers after skiing becomes top industry improving and will be discharged is enough to trigger an adequate soon, the outlet quoted AstraZeneca’s immune response, but two doses can By ZHANG YU in Shijiazhuang restricted the development of Transformation to snow the difficult period, the local gov CEO Pascal Soriot as saying. Mean further enhance protection. The tar [email protected] largescale agriculture. After many investigations, ernment has rolled out measures while, an independent investigation is get demographic for the current vac The situation changed in 1985 Chongli turned a past disadvantage including the reduction of taxes. working out if there was any link cine is above age 18, and they are also When Zhang Xiaojun was young, when a villager found two pieces of into an advantage — developing between the disorder and the vaccine. working on a version that can be giv he worked at a gold mine digging ore with high gold content while he winter sports with its abundant Life improved The Medicines and Healthcare en to the 6 to 18 age group. holes underground, a job others was herding sheep. snow resources. Last year, Chongli was removed products Regulatory Agency in the In response to concerns of the vac envied because such work could The discovery led to a series of The district has a yearly snowfall from a list of poor areas that were UK will decide soon if the trials can cine’s safety, Zhu said some may have provide a stable income at the time. geological surveys and explora period of over 150 days, with the key targets of the country’s poverty be restarted. The candidate’s trials misread the Chinese findings as dif Zhang is a villager at Qipanliang tions by local authorities, who deepest snowpacks reaching 1 alleviation work. in the UK, Japan, Brazil, South Afri ferent vaccine developers are using village in Chongli district, Zhangji found rich mineral resources in the meter. In 1996, it welcomed Saibei, The flourishing snow business in ca and the US have been suspended. different testing standards, defini akou, in Hebei province. The dis county. its first ski resort. Since then, the the district has played an impor Zhu Tao, the chief scientist for tions and viral strains, which can trict, which used to be a county, is Since then, mines have sprung snow industry has replaced mining tant role in the effort by creating CanSino Biologics, reassured inves sometimes lead to confusion if not about 150 kilometers northwest of up all over the area. to become the pillar of the district’s jobs for locals. tors in a meeting on Wednesday that read carefully. Beijing. By 2006, Chongli had 10 gold economy. Of its 126,000 residents, nearly the Chinese vaccine candidate jointly According to the British medical Since the 1980s, Chongli has mining companies and 34 iron ore At the time, most tourists were 24 percent are involved in work developed by the company and noted journal the Lancet, the Phase 2 trials of developed its economy mainly by enterprises, which contributed as from neighboring cities, including related to the ski industry, includ biomedical expert Chen Wei is gener the Chinese vaccine found 9 percent of relying on locally abundant resour much as 75 percent of the county’s Beijing, Tianjin and other cities in ing ski instructors, cleaners and ally safe and effective, and no serious the 253 volunteers who had received ces of minerals such as gold, coal annual revenue, according to the Hebei. equipment leasers. adverse reactions that require medi high dosages of the vaccine, as well as and iron. local government. Fueled by Beijing’s successful bid Additionally, an increasing cal attention have been reported. one person out of 129 volunteers in the When Zhang turned 50 this year, However, the mining business to host the 2022 Winter Olympic amount of talent with ties to the The Chinese recombinant adeno low dosage group, reported having he began to worry more about his started to fade about 10 years later Games, Chongli — which, as a industry or with knowledge of virus vector vaccine, dubbed Ad5 “Grade 3 severe adverse reactions”. health. when the government realized cohost, will hold most of the management or tourism develop nCoV, uses a weakened and modified However, the Grade 3 category in “After working there for several exploring minerals would not be a Games’ snowrelated events — has ment are coming into the district. common cold virus as a vector to the Chinese study mostly referred to years, I began to cough a lot. My sustainable method of develop developed into one of the country’s Cao Wen, a resident of Yaoziwan introduce parts of the genetic mate fever so scientists could differenti family said it must have been ment. most popular destinations for ski village, has witnessed the whole rial of the novel coronavirus into the ate it from skin irritation and other caused by the pollutants at mines,” Though the mining industry had ing. process of the snow industry’s body, training it to recognize and minor reactions. The study said the Zhang recalled. greatly contributed to the district’s The region now boasts seven emergence and has benefited from fight off the disease. Grade 3 reactions were “selflimited He said dust accompanied him economy, it also brought in high largescale ski resorts, with a total it. He was one of the earliest Zhu said the Chinese and British and resolved within three to four every day on the job. energy consuming and high pollut of 169 slopes totaling 162 kilome instructors that Saibei Ski Resort vaccine use the same technology, so days without medication”. “My mask was clean when I start ing companies, said Guo Yanwei, ters, according to the district’s pub nurtured in the 1990s. people often compare the two, but In conventional clinical trials, side ed working each day and very dirty deputy head of the district’s devel licity department. “At the time, no instructor from there are subtle differences oblivi effects are graded on a scale from 1 to when I finished,” he said. opment and reform bureau. During the 201819 snow season, outside wanted to come to our poor ous to the untrained eye. 5, with Grade 3 effects being severe Zhang quit the job for his own People’s lives improved, but the which spanned from November to county, so the ski resort picked up a For example, the adenovirus for reactions that require medical inter health. mountains and vegetation had April, Chongli received over 2.8 dozen local young farmers and the Chinese vaccine came from a vention, Grade 4 being lifethreaten Chongli wasn’t always known for been destroyed. Moreover, the million tourists and generated taught us how to ski,” recalled Cao, human, while the vector for the Brit ing and needing hospitalization, and its mines. businesses caused other problems about 2 billion yuan ($292 million) 57. ish vaccine came from a chimpan Grade 5 being fatal, according to the The former county — covering including ground subsidence, slag in revenue — up 68 percent and 75 After about a month, he became zee. The two viral vectors are highly US National Cancer Institute. about 2,300 square kilometers, accumulation and dust pollution. percent, respectively, compared a training partner and then a for more than 80 percent of which is “If it continued to go like this, with the 201415 snow season. mal coach. mountains — had no big industries what would our future generations Further, more convenient trans “Back then, I could earn about to support its economy, relying only rely on? We must transform and portation from Beijing has made 500 yuan a month, a high income at on some traditional agricultural make ecology the top priority while tourists more eager to come. the time in our county,” he said. No extra virus protection products. But the mountainous ter finding a highquality development A BeijingZhangjiakou high With more and more tourists rain and lengthy snow seasons method,” Guo said. speed railway opened at the end coming to Chongli to ski, Cao saw a of last year. It only takes one hour business opportunity. He quit his needed for National Day to travel from Qinghe Railway coaching job and opened a family Station in Beijing’s Haidian dis guesthouse in his village in 2001. By WANG XIAOYU travel restrictions have been lifted. trict to the Taizicheng Railway Eight years later, he opened a shop [email protected] According to the National Health Station in Chongli. In the past, the in downtown Chongli leasing ski Commission, the Chinese mainland journey could take more than equipment. Domestic travelers planning for has reported no new locally trans three hours. “Most of my family members are the upcoming National Day holiday mitted infections for 25 consecutive This year, the region’s ski indus together running the shop,” Cao do not need to take additional pre days as of Wednesday. try during the 201920 snow season said, adding they were earning cautions against the novel coronavi The commission detected seven was hit by the COVID19 outbreak. about 300,000 yuan each year from rus as the disease is no longer new imported cases on Wednesday. All seven major ski resorts in the leasing business before the circulating in society, according to a Wu said during the interview that Chongli suspended operations on COVID19 outbreak this year. top public health expert. all incoming travelers will be man Jan 28 and gradually resumed on Now he is planning to do some Currently, on the Chinese main aged in a closedoff loop and will not Feb 26. thing else since skiers increasing land, the virus can only be found in pose risks to local residents. “The suspension greatly affected ly have started to buy their own hospitalized patients, people placed “After months of exploring and the ski industry and the region’s equipment. In addition, such under medical observation and lab practicing strategies aimed at fend economic development,” said leasing shops have increased in oratories, Wu Zunyou, chief epide ing off imported infections, China Wang Biao, Party secretary of the past few years, boosting com miologist at the Chinese Center for has improved its knowledge in this Chongli district. According to the petition and affecting his busi Disease Control and Prevention, aspect and is capable of gradually region’s statistics bureau, Chongli’s ness. said during an interview with China increasing incoming flights,” he said. GDP for the first three months of “The snow business is develop Central Television this week. In Nanjing, Jiangsu province, a the year dropped by 4.1 percent to ing and also changing, so it’s time “It is now impossible to contract the 19yearold man who returned from Skiers enjoy the snow at a resort in Chongli district in Zhangjiakou, 587 million yuan. for me to figure out another way to virus in social environments, includ the United States on Aug 11 and test Hebei province, last October. WU DIANSEN / FOR CHINA DAILY To help companies get through get my share of the pie,” Cao said. ing schools and workplaces,” he said. ed negative for the virus twice during “There is no need to place extra restric the 14day mandatory quarantine tions on tourists out of concern for period, was recently confirmed as an Briefly COVID19 infections, though necessa asymptomatic carrier of the virus, ry travel safety precautions should be according to the local government. taken due to large gatherings.” He first tested positive on Sept 1 dur HUBEI upper reaches of the Yangtze Riv BEIJING centers — the fourth and fifth IPR This year’s National Day Holiday ing a followup test targeting overseas Ancient fossils found er. The fossils in the shape of New support centers protection sites in the country’s will run from Oct 1 to 8, one day travelers entering Jiangsu. Tests con in upper Yangtze River “leaves” are actually early ani bolster IPR protection western region — are located in longer than usual as it overlaps with ducted on Monday and Tuesday also mals. The four paleontological Gansu province and Kunming, cap the MidAutumn Festival, which returned positive, the government Archaeologists have identified species, which are now extinct, China has approved the establish ital of Yunnan province. Such cen also falls on Oct 1 this year. said. He showed no symptoms, and the four species of organisms from have a body length of about 10 ment of two new centers for intel ters aim to solve the difficulties in Tourist agencies thwarted by pent CT scan imaging was normal, it added. frondose fossils, which once lived centimeters. These ancient lectual property rights protection, obtaining evidence and reduce the up demand have predicted a surge in His parents and other close contacts at the bottom of the ocean 550 “leaves” have round suckers at according to the National Intellec duration and costs involved in IPR domestic travel during the eightday tested negative for the virus. Samples million years ago, in the Shiban the bottom that attached to the tual Property Administration. So protection. holiday as the outbreak has been collected from his rooms and places tan Biota in the Three Gorges seabed, while the “stems” and far, the country has 36 IPR protec suppressed in the country and most he visited before also tested negative. area of Hubei province, in the “leaves” stood upright in the sea. tion centers nationwide. The new XINHUA