Covid-19 vaccine tracker, Sept 7: China’s Sinovac uses shots on employees, their families

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The Sinovac vaccine, called CoronVac, was cleared for emergency use in July, but has only now started phase-3 trials which are being held in Brazil and Indonesia.

Two other vaccine candidates, one being developed by state-run Sinopharm, and the other by CanSino Biologics in collaboration with the Academy of Military Medical Sciences, have also been approved the Chinese authorities. There is no information about the number of people injected with these two other vaccines. These two candidates have also not gone through phase-three clinical trials, which are beginning only now.

A booth displaying a coronavirus vaccine candidate from Sinovac Biotech Ltd is seen at the 2020 China International Fair for Trade in Services (CIFTIS), following the COVID-19 outbreak, in Beijing (Reuters)

Off the 34 vaccines currently undergoing clinical trials, eight are being developed by Chinese companies or institutions.

Hunt for coronavirus vaccine: The story so far

• More than 175 vaccine candidates in pre-clinical or clinical trials
• 34 of them in clinical trials
• Eight in final stages, phase-III of human trials
• At least eight candidate vaccines being developed in India. Two of these have entered phase -II trials after completing phase-I.

(As on September 3; source: WHO Coronavirus vaccine landscape of September 3, 2020)

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