China approves its first vaccine against COVID-19 conditionally – Telemundo Miami (51)

BEIJING – #China’s health authorities said #Thursday they have given conditional authorization to a coronavirus vaccine developed by the state laboratory #Sinopharm.

#It is the first vaccine approved for general application in #China.

The authorization was issued as the country carried out a vaccination campaign of 50 million people ahead of the important celebration of the #Lunar #New #Year in #February.

#Chen #Shifei, deputy commissioner of the #China #National #Medical #Products #Administration, told a news conference on #Thursday that the decision was made the day before.

The vaccine was developed by the #Beijing #Institute of #Biological #Products, a subsidiary of the state conglomerate #Sinopharm.

The company announced #Wednesday that according to preliminary information from the last stage of testing, the vaccine is 79.3% effective.

#Zhang #Zhan received four years in prison.

#Definitive proof of its effectiveness will depend on more data being published.

#Sinopharm is one of at least five #Chinese developers competing globally to create vaccines against the disease that has killed more than 1.8 million people around the world.

#Conditional authorization means that investigations are continuing, and that authorities can request more information on the safety and effectiveness of certain populations with different health profiles, said #Tao #Lina, a former government immunologist.

#Scientists identified the new strain in #October, in #Rio de #Janeiro. #To see more from #Telemundo, visit now.telemundo.com

The term generally means that a drug or product in question might be restricted to certain age groups, he noted.

The authorities declined to mention a particular price. “#Of course it will be at the limit of what a person can pay,” said #Zheng #Zhongwei, an official with the #National #Health #Commission.

The #Beijing #Institute’s vaccine is already being manufactured on a large scale, although the authorities did not respond to questions about current production capacity.

“#Production capacity is a dynamic and continuous process,” said #Mao #Junfeng, deputy director of the #Department of #Consumer #Products #Industry at the #Ministry of #Industry and #Information #Technology.