Despite safety concerns over the lack of standard testing, China is inoculating tens of thousands of its citizens with experimental coronavirus vaccines, reports SBS News.
China launched a vaccine emergency use programme in July, offering three experimental shots developed by a unit of state pharmaceutical giant China National Pharmaceutical Group (Sinopharm) and US-listed Sinovac Biotech. A fourth COVID-19 vaccine being developed by CanSino Biologics was approved for use by the Chinese military in June.
Aiming to protect essential workers and reduce the likelihood of a resurgence, the report says the vaccines are also grabbing attention in the global scramble by governments to secure supplies, potentially helping reframe China’s perceived role in the pandemic. Beijing has not released official data on the uptake in domestic targeted groups, which include medical, transport and food market workers.
But China National Biotec Group (CNBG), the Sinopharm unit developing two of the emergency use vaccines, and Sinovac have confirmed that at least tens of thousands of people have been inoculated. Additionally, CNBG said it had given hundreds of thousands of doses; one of its vaccines requires an individual receive two or three shots to be inoculated.
Beijing has engaged a public, top-down approach to endorse the experimental vaccines and foster community support. Among those lining up for shots early on were the chief executives of Sinovac and Sinopharm and the military’s research chief.
Reuters reports that China’s approach runs counter to that of many Western countries, where experts have warned against authorizing the emergency use of vaccines that have not completed testing, citing a lack of understanding about longer-term efficacy and potential side effects.
Anna Durbin, a vaccine researcher at Johns Hopkins University, described China’s emergency use programme as “very problematic,” saying it was impossible to judge efficacy without a clinical trial standard control group. “
Russia is one of the few other countries to authorise the use of an experimental vaccine, making its own “Sputnik V” vaccine mandatory for certain groups including teachers. And, Reuters reports, India is considering emergency authorisation for a vaccine, particularly for the elderly and people in high-risk workplaces.
[link url="https://www.sbs.com.au/news/thousands-in-china-have-been-inoculated-with-experimental-coronavirus-vaccines-despite-safety-concerns"]Full SBS News report[/link]