Coronavirus vaccine: China approves its own mRNA vaccine for the first time

JYears after the rest of the world, an mRNA vaccine against Covid-19 was first approved in China. China’s CSPC Pharmaceutical received the green light for its mRNA-based vaccine on Wednesday from Chinese health authorities. This makes it the first domestically developed vaccine of this type to be approved. China has so far refused to use mRNA vaccines from abroad, although coronavirus vaccines previously available in China are considered less effective than mRNA vaccines from Biontech/Pfizer. and Moderna. . Their use has already been approved in the US and EU in late 2020/early 2021.

So far, China has used only vaccines developed and produced in China, primarily Sinovac and Sinopharm. Biontech has not yet received approval in China, although the company signed a licensing agreement with China’s Fosun Pharma in spring 2020 to develop and market a vaccine in China. German citizens living in China have been able to be vaccinated with Biontech since the end of last year after Chancellor Olaf Scholz campaigned for it. Because at this point, the country is facing a violent wave of infections after abruptly lifting its restrictive zero Covid policy. In addition, the Chinese in Hong Kong could also get support from Biontech.

Coronavirus cases in China are currently declining across the country. According to CSPC, the company’s vaccine targets some of the major omicron sub-variants and has demonstrated good neutralizing efficacy against variants BA.5, BF.7, BQ.1.1., XBB.1.5 and CH.1.1 in clinical studies as a booster dose. In a study of 4,000 participants conducted from December 10 to January 18, the vaccine was expected to be 85.3 percent effective in those who received the protein vaccine as their main vaccine. CSPC did not say how many cans the company plans to produce. The Chinese company CanSino is also working on an mRNA vaccine.