China displays Covid-19 vaccines for first time

BEIJING: China has put its homegrown coronavirus vaccines on display for the primary time, because the country where the contagion was discovered looks to shape the narrative surrounding the pandemic.

High hopes hang on the tiny vials of liquid on show at a Beijing trade fair in the week — vaccine candidates produced by Chinese companies Sinovac Biotech and Sinopharm.

Neither has hit the market yet but the manufacturers hope they're going to be approved after all-important phase 3 trials as early as year-end.

A Sinovac representative said his firm has already “completed the development of a vaccine factory” ready to produce 300 million doses a year.

On Monday, people at the trade fair crowded around booths showing the potential game-changing vaccines.

China, which is facing a storm of foreign criticism over its early handling of the pandemic, has been trying to repurpose the story of Covid-19.

State media and officials are now emphasising the revival of Wuhan, the central Chinese city where the deadly pathogen surfaced, as a hit story within the fight against the virus.

They are also touting progress on domestic vaccines as a symbol of Chinese leadership and resilience within the face of an unprecedented health threat that has pummelled the worldwide economy.

In May, President Xi Jinping pledged to form any potential vaccine developed by China a “global public good”.

The potential vaccines on display are among nearly 10 worldwide to enter phase 3 trials, typically the last step before regulatory approval, as countries race to crush out the virus and reboot battered economies.

Sinopharm said it anticipates the antibodies from its jab to last between one and three years — although the ultimate result will only be known after the trials.

China’s nationalistic tabloid Global Times reported last month that “the price of the vaccines won't be high”.

Every two doses should cost below 1,000 yuan ($146), the report said, citing Sinopharm’s chairman, who told media he has already been injected with one among the candidate vaccines.

China’s official Xinhua press agency reported Monday that another vaccine candidate, developed by Chinese military scientists, can affect mutations within the coronavirus.

As of last month, a minimum of 5.7 billion doses of the vaccines under development round the world had been pre-ordered.

But the planet Health Organisation has warned that widespread immunisation against Covid-19 might not get on the cards until the center of next year.