Vaccines in the final stage of China and Russia

As Britain becomes the first Western country to approve a COVID-19 vaccine for general use, here’s a look at what major non-Western nations are doing in the race to get a vaccine approved.

China: evidence of the last phase and emergency use

China has four coronavirus vaccines in phase 3 studies, typically the last step before regulatory approval, but hasn’t released much of its data.

While regulators have not yet approved Chinese vaccines for mass distribution, the country has approved some advanced candidates for emergency use, hitting people ranging from state employees to international students since July.

Nearly a million people have already taken an experimental Sinopharm vaccine, the company said in November. Another company, Sinovac Biotech, previously said that nearly all of its employees and their families had taken its vaccine voluntarily.

China has also increased its vaccine production capacity, with health officials expecting the country to be able to produce 610 million doses per year by the end of the year.

It is planned to increase this capacity to at least one billion doses per year next year.

In November, the state-owned Global Times reported that Chinese coronavirus vaccine manufacturers were making plans for international transportation. President Xi Jinping has pledged to make any potential vaccines developed by China available for the “global public good”.

Russia: registered vaccines and 40,000 volunteers

The Russian Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine was registered in August and is currently completing the third and final phase of clinical trials, with the participation of around 40,000 volunteers.

The vaccine uses two different human adenovirus vectors and is given in two doses with an interval of 21 days. The developers said interim test results showed the vaccine to be 95% effective.

There is no clear timeline for the vaccination process, but the authorities expect mass vaccination to begin in 2021.

The developers expect to produce more than two million doses of the vaccine by the end of 2020.

Moscow is likely to be the first city to launch vaccinations, and the mayor said around 300 vaccination points were already waiting for the shots to come.

The vaccine will first be made available to people in high-risk groups, including doctors and teachers, and all vaccinations will be voluntary and free for Russian citizens.

Russia has also started a mass vaccination campaign in the military, expecting to vaccinate 80,000 soldiers by the end of this year and more than 400,000 military personnel in the future.

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© 2020 AFP