Earlier in May, China has announced that it will promote the development of a COVID-19 vaccine as a global public good once it becomes available, as China's resolution in serving the international community.
Just like other countries, China wants to protect its people from the virus, and currently, four Chinese companies have started testing their vaccine candidates on humans, higher than the US and Britain combined.
The need for a vaccine is urgent, as the number of people getting infected increases globally, and the true count might be much higher. The coronavirus remains difficult to beat even in China, which initially appeared to have tamed the spread of the virus, but has actually suffered from sporadic outbreaks.
Will 'CoronaVac' Really Work Against COVID-19?
One of the four Chinese companies testing their vaccine and a leading biopharmaceutical company, Sinovac Biotech Ltd. Said it is 99% confident that its experimental coronavirus vaccine named 'CoronaVac' will work effectively against SARS-CoV-2.
The company is now on its second trial with more than 1,000 volunteers participating in their study. Currently, there are over 110 vaccines under development globally with at least ten vaccine candidates already in human trials.
Worldwide, more than 6 million have already got infected with more than 370,000 number of deaths. Around 196 countries and territories have confirmed cases of coronavirus.
Sinovac researcher, Luo Baishan, told Sky News that the company believes that its inactivated vaccine would be successful. "Yes, yes. It must be successful... 99% [sure]," he replied when asked whether he thought the vaccine would be effective against the novel coronavirus, said Baishan.
Then finally last month, they have published their findings of the CoronaVac in a peer-reviewed academic journal Science. Their results suggest that the vaccine is safe and protected rhesus monkeys from the deadly infection of coronavirus.
According to a report from Times Now News, Sinovac is already on its Phase II clinical trial which assesses the immunogenicity and safety of the vaccine in a larger population to define the dosage, regimen, and the company's immunization schedule.
The Chinese company is already in preliminary talks to conduct stage 3 trials, which is the final stage of the process, in the United Kingdom.
When asked whether she thinks that the vaccine would be effective against the novel coronavirus, he replied: "Yes, yes. It must be successful... 99% [sure], "said Helen Yang, Senior Director of Investor Relations of the company,
Presently, Sinovac has made significant progress in CoronaVac and said that it would help manufacture up to 100 million doses of its vaccine annually. Thanks to it $15 million funding, they can accelerate the development and production of the vaccine development.
Other Coronavirus Vaccines Under Development
The US firm, Moderna Inc., has shown the vaccine successfully produced protective antibodies in a small group of healthy volunteers. However, there are reports highlighting its side effects in a person taking the trial.
Meanwhile, in Russia, the country is already planning to start clinical trials in two weeks. As of now, Russia has been testing 50 different vaccine projects in hopes to treat COVID-19 patients effectively.
Then, the US pharmaceutical giant, Pfizer said that the vaccine they are developing with the German firm Biontech will be ready by the end of October.
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