A nurse checking Sinopharm vaccines, at Beijing on 20 December 2020. – NEW CHINA / SIPA
China has a Covid vaccination plan – 19 particularly ambitious. The country wants to “vaccinate the entire population”. But to achieve this goal, it is necessary to have a vaccine. And it is now done. China announced on Thursday that it had approved “under conditions »the placing on the market of a first vaccine anti-Covid – 15. Beijing also specified that nearly 5 million people at risk have already been administered different doses.
This first vaccine, produced by Sinopharm with the Institute of Biologics of
Beijing , is effective at more than 70%, the pharmaceutical group announced on Wednesday. Based on these results, “The National Administration of Medicinal Products approved the 20 December (…) the request for inclusion of Sinopharm’s inactivated vaccine (…) conditionally ”, announced at a press conference a high responsible for this organization, Chen Shifei.
Generalize vaccination
This type of conditional marketing allows the vaccine to be offered to the general public, when the analyzes of clinical trials have not yet been completed but indicate that the product is effective. At the same press conference, the Deputy Minister of Health, Zeng Yixin, clarified that the authorization would make it possible to generalize the vaccination of the groups at risk, namely the elderly and those suffering from underlying diseases.
According to the Minister, a vaccination ” of 60% at 70 % ” of the 1.4 billion Chinese will be needed to ensure “the protection of the entire population”. The deputy minister pledged that the vaccine will be “provided free to all”. When questioned, however, officials did not provide any figures regarding Chinese production capacity, simply indicating that vaccination would be optional.
Some minor allergic reactions
China, where the coronavirus appeared late 2019, tries to be at the forefront of global development of a vaccine. At the cost of enormous financial means, she currently has vaccines tested in humans, including five in the final phase of trials (phase 3), including the one just approved. Zeng Yixin also specified that 3 million vaccinations had been carried out for people at risk since 14 December, without specifying which vaccines had been used. Only a few mild allergic reactions have been observed and the authorities consider that the vaccines can be generalized, he said.
Beijing, which has largely eradicated the epidemic on its territory, had carried out emergency vaccinations from this summer, in particular to medical personnel or students and diplomats to travel abroad. More than a million and a half people had already been vaccinated.
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