[News] Corona vaccine ... China announces one billion doses and sets the date

[HiTLeR]

 

A Chinese health official said, Friday, that the country's annual production capacity for coronavirus vaccines will exceed one billion doses next year, after a strong government support program to build new factories.

Cheng Zhongwei, from the National Health Commission, said the capacity is expected to reach 610 million doses by the end of this year.

He added, during a press conference, that "next year, our annual capacity will reach more than one billion doses." US drug companies Pfizer and Moderna aim to produce one billion doses in 2021 as well.

Zheng said that distributing vaccines will give priority to groups such as medical workers, border officials and the elderly, before making them available to the general public.

China has strengthened the construction of vaccine testing facilities and manufacturing facilities, and has commissioned independent monitors to assemble them. China has 11 candidate vaccines for human trials, four of them are currently in the third and final trials.

One of these vaccines is "Koronavac", which is made by the private company "Sinovac", which is already preparing the plant floor in a biosecure facility outside Beijing.

Senovac Chairman Yin Weidong said on Thursday that the plant had been built in months, and more could be built if demand was sufficient.

Some countries are making a combined effort on vaccines to ensure success against the disease. More than 150 countries are establishing the Kovacs facility, which is a bulk procurement mechanism for COVID-19 vaccines coordinated by the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI), under the supervision of the World Health Organization.

"The goal should be to vaccinate some people in all countries, not all people in some countries," WHO Director-General Tedros Ghebreyesus said earlier this month.