BUSINESS CHINA DAILY | CHINADAILY.COM.CN/ Monday, March 8, 2021
RIGHT TRACK Quality Chinese vaccines keep nation’s promise Domestic pharma companies work overtime to meet soaring demand at home and abroad
By LIU ZHIHUA, ZHENG YIRAN and HU YUANYUAN
During this year’s Feb 1117 Spring Festival holiday — the most impor tant annual cultural event for Chi nese — more than 1,200 employees of Sinovac Life Sciences, a pharma ceutical company based in Beijing, did something unprecedented. Unlike hundreds of millions of fel low citizens who tried to celebrate the holiday in innovative ways this year due to restrictions relating to the COVID19 pandemic, Sinovac staff members sacrificed festivities and continued working. That enabled Sinovac to function round the clock and produce hun dreds of thousands of doses of Coro naVac vaccine, an inactivated COVID 19 vaccine. The company’s plants operated at full capacity to meet the soaring demand at home and abroad. As of March 3, COVID19 has spread to more than 223 countries and regions, with about 114.43 mil lion confirmed cases, and more than 2.54 million casualties, according to the World Health Organization. Those figures also underscored the widening immunitydevelop ment gap between the world’s high income countries and those Employees of Sinovac Life Sciences process CoronaVac vaccine vials on Feb 24. As of Feb 23, about 97 countries and regions have administered more than 208 million doses of underprivileged, which has resulted COVID19 vaccines. CHEN XIAOGEN / FOR CHINA DAILY in a global vaccine accessibility inequity, adding uncertainties to hopes that life could return to nor Pearson Liu, director of brand mal through vaccinations. management and public relations of About 97 countries and regions Sinovac, said the company will have administered more than 208 export semifinished jabs to some million doses of COVID19 vaccines countries, and help build local fill as of Feb 23. Richer countries such ing and packaging lines in import as the United States took leading ing countries to improve the places in terms of population fully production capacity and efficiency. or partially vaccinated, according to The company’s COVID19 vaccine Our World in Data, an online exported overseas received warm research provider affiliated with the welcome in destination countries. Oxford Martin Programme on Glob On Jan 14, Turkish President Recep al Development. Tayyip Erdogan received the COVID To bring the pandemic to an end, 19 vaccine produced by Sinovac. the world’s population needs to In Indonesia, the president, cabi become immune to the novel coro net members, as well as influential navirus — SARSCoV2 — through public figures in the country, received vaccinations. China has been unre Sinovac’s vaccination. lenting in its efforts to strengthen A doctor vaccinates a person with Sinopharm COVID19 vaccine in A staff member shows CoronaVac vaccine vials at Sinovac Life Sci Apart from the four approved vac the global virus fight. Nagykata, Hungary, on Feb 24. TIBOR ILLYES / MTI VIA XINHUA ences in Beijing. CHEN XIAOGEN / FOR CHINA DAILY cines, vaccine candidates under For instance, it has invested time, development by other Chinese pro energy and big money on vaccine ducers are making steady progress. development and production, and when developing and producing control, to help ensure fair distribu Sinopharm’s annual production For instance, the mRNA vaccine boosted vaccine exports to countries vaccines, he said. tion of the vaccines as a global public capacity has already hit 1 billion dos developed by Walvax Biotechnology in dire need. China has also champi Zhang Yesui, spokesperson for the good among developing countries.” es. About 60 million doses of its vac Co Ltd and its partners, is said to be oned the cause of making COVID19 Chinese vaccine fourth session of the 13th National More than 20 countries have cines have been administered a strong candidate. vaccines a global public good — producers are People’s Congress, said on Thursday signed supply contracts with China worldwide, Yu Qingming, chairman Walvax, the only domestic pro something that Premier Li Keqiang that China had 17 vaccine candidates for the vaccines, with orders from 16 of Sinopharm Group Co Ltd, a sub ducer of China’s selfdeveloped underscored in the Government building an entering clinical trials, with several countries and regions already sidiary of Sinopharm, told the Bei 13valent pneumococcal polysac Work Report delivered at the fourth increasingly greater already in third stage clinical tests. exceeding 50 million doses, he said. jingbased Health Times. charide conjugate vaccine, said it session of the 13th National People’s The National Medical Products “We will try our best to produce “Currently, most of the countries has three COVID19 vaccine candi Congress on Friday. presence in the world, Administration has given condition more highquality vaccines as quick that received vaccines from China dates on its hands. Among them is The report said: “We upheld mul as reflected by their al approval for four homegrown vac ly as possible on the basis of safety are developing countries, which the mRNA vaccine, which uses a tilateralism and endeavored to build cines developed by China National and standards to contribute to fairer basically are not capable of inde new technology to stimulate the a human community with a shared exports of COVID19 Pharmaceutical Group, which is distribution of COVID19 vaccines,” pendently developing or producing immune system to trigger appropri future. We supported global cooper vaccines, to known as Sinopharm, Sinovac, and said Yang Xiaoming, chairman of COVID19 vaccines, and are in dire ate responses against the virus. ation on combating COVID19 and CanSino Biologics Inc. China National Biotec Group need of the vaccines compared with The mRNA vaccine received called for building a global health contribute to global According to Feng Duojia, presi (CNBG), a subsidiary of Sinopharm, other countries,” Yang of CNBG said. approval from the NMPA for clinical community. China thus made containment of the dent of the China Association for and a major COVID19 vaccine pro The Sinovac vaccine has been trials on June 19, and has already important contributions to advanc Vaccines, China’s annual COVID19 ducer in China. approved for emergency use in sev entered phaseII clinical trials. It also ing global peace and development.” pandemic.” vaccine production capacity is It is said all people are susceptible eral countries, including Indonesia, has excellent stability in storage at 28 “Important” here is borne out by Feng Duojia, president of the expected to be more than 2 billion to COVID19. Countries around the Brazil and Chile, according to Yin C, which means it will be much less hard evidence. Guo Weimin, spokes China Association for Vaccines doses by the end of this year, and can world should work together on vac Weidong, chairman and CEO of demanding during transportation person for the fourth session of the grow to more than 4 billion doses by cination, personnel protection, and Sinovac Biotech Ltd. and in terms of storage conditions, 13th National Committee of the Chi the end of 2022, if necessary. community management to effec At the end of February, the compa compared to similar mRNA vaccines nese People’s Political Consultative “very narrowminded” to perceive “Chinese vaccine producers are tively control the disease, Yang told ny had finished its capacity expan developed by other producers. Conference, the country’s top politi China’s action of providing COVID building an increasingly greater Xinhua News Agency. sion project to increase annual The company has started the con cal advisory body, said on Wednes 19 vaccines and related assistance to presence in the world, as reflected China’s decision to supply 10 mil production capacity to 1 billion doses. struction of a manufacturing base day that as of Feb 28, China has other countries as a tool for gaining by their exports of COVID19 vacci lion doses of COVID19 vaccine to “Sinovac has received vaccine with considerable capacity for the offered COVID19 vaccine assistance geopolitical influence. nes, to contribute to global contain the WHO’s global vaccine sharing orders from Brazil, Indonesia, Tur mRNA vaccine, which is expected to to 69 countries and two internation China has pledged to provide vac ment of the pandemic,” he said. initiative COVAX signals that the key, Chile and some other countries reach production in a few months. al organizations, and exported vac cines as a global public good, and “Chinese companies are also fur country has honored its commit and regions, and we are making cines to 28 countries. Guo also said encourages Chinese companies to thering their efforts for production ment to make the vaccines a global every effort to expand the produc Contact the writers at these numbers are growing and it is collaborate with other countries efficiency improvement and cost public good, he said. tion capacity,” Yin said. [email protected]
prevention and control of the dis gary greeted the shipments’ arrival ease have paid off, the country also at airports and expressed heartfelt Building immunity barrier, sharing future keeps an open and inclusive attitude thanks to China, Foreign Ministry toward vaccine development and Spokesperson Hua Chunying told a endeavors to keep its promise of media conference recently in Bei skip the usual entertainment activi code at public places. sible and gradually build an developing COVID19 vaccines as a jing. ties, for fear of contracting the novel The overall holiday period con immune barrier within the whole global public good. The nation has also been assisting REPORTER’S coronavirus. sumption jumped 28.7 percent year population to control the epidem As of midFebruary, China had other countries to manufacture LOG This February, however, thanks to onyear to 821 billion yuan ($127 ic, the National Health Commis offered COVID19 vaccine assist their vaccines in China or locally in strict prevention and control meas billion), and cinema boxoffice sion said. ance to 53 developing countries at order to boost global production By Liu Zhihua ures in China, including quaran receipts exceeded a record 7 billion Vaccination is planned first for their request, and had exported vac capacity. tines and vaccinations, the spread of yuan. key groups, to be followed by high cines to 22 nations. It is said no man is an island. No uring the Spring Festival COVID19 has been contained large In the first six weeks of this year, risk groups and then the general During this year’s Spring Festival country will be able to get rid of the holiday in late January last ly during the Spring Festival holi total boxoffice receipts neared 10 population. holiday in February, China delivered pandemic on its own. The pandemic D year, when the COVID19 day. billion yuan, or half of last year’s At the same time, the country is vaccine shipments to seven countries, seems to underline China’s vision outbreak was still snowballing, peo Chinese people were able to enjoy total. also ramping up vaccine production including Zimbabwe, Turkey, Peru, that it is important to build a global ple in China had to abide by social almost normalized life, albeit by China aims to vaccinate the eli capabilities. Morocco and Senegal. community of nations with a shared distancing norms and stay at home, wearing a mask and using health gible population as widely as pos While China’s efforts in domestic Leaders of countries such as Hun future for humankind.