China approves 4 new COVID vaccines for emergency use
Four new COVID-19 vaccines – three recombinant protein-based vaccines and one nasal spray influenza virus vector vaccine – were approved for emergency use on the Chinese mainland within two days from last Sunday to this Monday.
The vaccines are to further boost China's arsenal against the raging coronavirus outbreak and provide viable alternatives to existing ones.
SinoCellTech, Clover Biopharmaceuticals, Wantai BioPharm and WestVac Biopharms are the four companies developing these vaccines. Among them, Wantai vaccine is the first nasal spray vaccine in the world to be approved for clinical trials, and WestVac's Sf9 cell is the first recombinant protein-based vaccine produced by insect cell technology in China.
Clover's SCB-2019 is said to reduce the transmission rate of COVID-19 by 84 percent among household contacts, and SinoCellTech's SCTV01C, a vaccine against Omicron BA.1 and BA.5, is highly safe with a similar safety profile to inactivated vaccines.
A medic administers a shot of the COVID-19 vaccine in Shanghai in this 2021 file photo.
China has been doubling down on its efforts to vaccinate vulnerable groups as fast as possible, especially the elderly, whose vaccination rate still needs improvement.
Thirteen vaccines have been approved in China so far, including inactivated vaccines, recombinant protein-based vaccines, viral vector vaccines and more.
In the second half of 2022, China's approval of COVID-19 vaccines accelerated significantly.
