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

Coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine tracker September 7 Update: A Reuters report quoted the CEO of the company as saying that about 90 per cent of the employees and their family members had been given the vaccine doses.

By: Explained Desk

Pune | September 7, 2020 07:53 AM IST

3 min read

A nurse holds China's Sinovac vaccine, a potential vaccine for the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), at the Sao Lucas Hospital in Brazil (Reuters/File)

Coronavirus (COVID-19) Vaccine Tracker: A coronavirus vaccine being developed by a Chinese company has been first used on its own employees and their families. This vaccine, being developed by Sinovac Biotech, is one of the three that China has authorised for ‘limited’ or emergency use, without phase-3 clinical trials having been conducted.

A Reuters report quoted the CEO of the company as saying that about 90 per cent of the employees and their family members had been given the vaccine doses. The CEO said the vaccine was “offered” to approximately 2,000 to 3,000 employees, and their families, “on a voluntary basis”. It wasn’t clear exactly how many people were injected with the vaccine.

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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.

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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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