Almost a million people have been given an experimental coronavirus vaccine developed by Sinopharm as part of an emergency-use program authorised by Beijing, reports CNN. No serious adverse effects have been reported from vaccine recipients so far, Sinopharm said, citing Chairman Liu Jingzhen.
"Only a few have some mild symptoms," Liu said. Sinopharm has two vaccine candidates. It's unclear which vaccine Liu referred to.
Liu said the vaccine had been given to Chinese construction workers, diplomats, and students who have gone to more than 150 countries around the world during the pandemic. He said on November 6 that there were 56,000 people who had received emergency vaccinations and then gone overseas.
"For example, a transnational company has 99 employees in one of its overseas offices, of whom 81 were vaccinated. And later, an outbreak broke out in the office, 10 of the 18 people who were not vaccinated were infected and none of those vaccinated were infected," he said.
He said that separately, Sinopharm had carried out Phase 3 clinical trials involving almost 60,000 people in 10 countries — including the UAE, Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Peru, and Argentina.
In June, Chinese company CanSino Biologics announced it had been given special authorisation to administer its experimental vaccine to the People's Liberation Army. Since July, Chinese drug makers have been administering experimental vaccines to people working in "high-risk" professions.
Experimental coronavirus vaccines have even been reportedly offered to the public in parts of China, causing some citizens to rush across the country to get their hands on a dose.
[link url="https://edition.cnn.com/2020/11/20/asia/china-sinopharm-vaccine-test-intl-hnk/index.html"]Full CNN report[/link]