After China’s State Food and Drug Administration approved the conditional launch of a COVID-19 inactivated vaccine of the State Pharmaceutical Group, Beijing, Wuhan and other places have begun to vaccinate key populations.
On the 3rd, the inoculation personnel participated in the inactivated vaccination of COVID-19 at the temporary vaccination point of Chaoyang Planning Art Museum in Chaoyang District, Beijing. After vaccination, personnel need to stay in the observation area for 30 minutes without any abnormality before leaving.
Gao Xiaojun, spokesman of the Beijing Municipal Health Commission, said at a press conference on the 3rd that from January 1st to 2, 2021, Beijing was inoculated with a total of 73,537 doses of COVID-19 vaccine, and there were no serious adverse reactions. At present, 220 vaccination sites have been launched in the city.
China’s approval of the vaccine for market and the start of vaccination will pave the way for the large-scale promotion of the vaccine in China and around the world, CNN said.
On the 3rd, Indonesia began to distribute the purchased COVID-19 vaccine developed by Beijing Kexing Company of China nationwide, and plans to start a large-scale vaccination plan later this month. Egyptian health minister announced on the evening of the 2nd that the country had approved the use of Chinese national medicine vaccines.
On the evening of December 30 last year, the State Food and Drug Administration of China approved the conditional listing of the COVID-19 vaccine of the State Pharmaceutical Group.
This is the first officially approved COVID-19 vaccine in China, which has attracted widespread attention from foreign media. The Chinese authorities approved the launch of the national drug vaccine in the last week of 2020, together with a variety of licensed vaccines in Europe and the United States, which took the world a step closer to ending the COVID-19 epidemic, the BBC said on January 2.
The Japan Times said on the 2nd that although the declared validity rate of the vaccine announced by the State Pharmaceutical Group is lower than that developed by Pfizer and Modena, the approval of its vaccine shows that China has made progress in the global competition to develop a COVID-19 vaccine.
Many developing countries are closely monitoring the efficacy and safety data of Chinese vaccines, because they have difficulty obtaining vaccines from Western pharmaceutical manufacturers, so they are looking for alternatives from China and Russia.
Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post said on the 2nd that the approval of the launch of the national drug vaccine is a milestone for Beijing and may have a significant impact on the very limited supply of vaccines.
According to the report, at least 10 countries have signed documents to buy coronavirus vaccines from other Chinese manufacturers such as the State Pharmaceutical Group. The observer said that by providing vaccines to the rest of the world, China has the opportunity to enhance its international reputation and partnership.”
The South China Morning Post said that although there were sporadic local epidemics in China this winter, Beijing has repeatedly assured the public that the virus has been well controlled in China, and that a large-scale epidemic like Wuhan’s original is unlikely to happen again, and many parts of China have begun to vaccinate key populations.
Beijing has identified nine key categories of people to be vaccinated first, including cold chain goods inspection and quarantine personnel, port loading and unloading transportation personnel, transportation personnel, overseas work and learning personnel, border port staff, medical and health personnel, community workers, etc.
According to the plan, Beijing will complete the first injection of all key populations in mid-January 2021, and the second injection will be inoculated two to four weeks. Before the Spring Festival in 2021, emergency vaccination of 9 key groups will be completed.
The reporter of Global Times contacted a community health center in Wuhan on the 3rd to provide vaccination for overseas students.
The staff said that the service targets are recent emergency overseas students in Wuhan, and visas, passports, air tickets are needed, and international students need local school certificates. The staff said, “There are not enough vaccines now, but there will be enough later and you can definitely make an appointment.” The staff member said that the vaccination was free of charge.
The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said on the 3rd that 18 domestic enterprises have now carried out the construction of COVID-19 vaccine production capacity.
Following the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, more and more countries have begun to use Chinese vaccines for public vaccination.
According to Singapore’s Straits Times on the 3rd, BioFarma, a vaccine manufacturer of the Indonesian government, said on the same day that from the 3rd, Kochen vaccine will be distributed to medical institutions in 34 administrative regions across the country.
“All cold chain facilities are ready, hoping that this will help to ensure the quality of the vaccine”. The company has received two batches of 3 million doses of vaccine from Kexing Company.
Dr. Tamizi, spokesman for COVID-19 vaccination of the Indonesian Ministry of Health, said at a press conference on the 3rd that, like Indonesia, the clinical trials of Kochen vaccine in Turkey and Brazil have achieved “very good” results, paving the way for the implementation of the national vaccination plan on time.
According to AFP on January 3, Egyptian Minister of Health and Population, Hara Zayed, said in a speech on local television on the evening of the 2nd that Egypt officially approved the emergency use of the Chinese National Pharmaceutical Group’s inactivated coronavirus vaccine in Egypt.
We have signed an agreement with the Chinese National Pharmaceutical Group and obtained an emergency license from the Egyptian Drug Administration. She also revealed that the Egyptian Drug Administration will send the relevant official license to the Ministry of Health on the 3rd, which was issued on the 2nd, and the safety and effectiveness of China’s coronavirus vaccine have been scientifically certified.
Zayed said that the first batch of vaccines from China was in place in December last year, and the second batch will arrive in the second and third weeks of January this year, and vaccination will begin after that.
Egypt plans to order 40 million doses of vaccine from China, and the two sides signed the Letter of Intent between China and Egypt on Cooperation on COVID-19 Vaccine on December 31, 2020.
An editorial in the South China Morning Post on the 3rd said that the hasty development of a vaccine has made some people feel uncomfortable about its safety. But no pharmaceutical company puts its reputation and business at risk by launching a vaccine prematurely without confidence in the safety or claimed effectiveness of its products.” The safety of vaccines is not discounted.
The urgency of the pandemic means that governments and businesses have put aside the apathy, business demands and bureaucratic red tape. There are still some uncertainties, such as whether vaccines can stop transmission, or how long they can last.
But defeating the pandemic ultimately depends on the actual situation of vaccination and trust in the vaccine.”
