China gets ready for large-scale rollout of COVID-19 vaccines
Taipei: Provincial governments across China are placing orders for experimental, domestically made coronavirus vaccines, though health officials have yet to say how well they work or how they may reach the country's 1.4 billion people.
Developers are speeding up final testing, the Chinese foreign minister said Thursday during a UN meeting, as Britain issued approval for emergency use of Pfizer Inc.'s vaccine candidate and providers scrambled to set up distribution. China's fledgling pharmaceutical industry has at least five vaccines from four producers being tested in more than a dozen countries including Russia, Egypt and Mexico.
Health experts say even if they are successful, the certification process for the United States, Europe, Japan and other developed countries might be too complex for them to be used there. However, China said it will ensure the products are affordable for developing countries.
One developer, China National Pharmaceutical Group, known as Sinopharm, said in November it applied for final market approval for use of its vaccine in China. Others have been approved for emergency use on health workers and other people deemed at high risk of infection. —AP
Clinical trial: 17 volunteers given Sputnik V vaccine in Pune
Pune: A total of 17 volunteers have been administered Russia's Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine at a Pune hospital as part of the human clinical trials, doctors said on Sunday.
Sputnik V vaccine has been developed by the Gamaleya National Research Center of Epidemiology and Microbiology and Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF). As per reports, India has purchased 100 million doses of the candidate from Russia.
"Seventeen healthy volunteers were administered Sputnik V vaccine in the last three days as part of human trials," Dr S K Raut, Head of Clinical Research Department of Noble Hospital here, said.
The inoculation process began on Thursday, he added. "All the volunteers, who were administered the vaccine, will be under observation for the next few days," Dr Raut added. The selection of the volunteers was done as per the laid-down norms as they need to be healthy, doctors said. —PTI
