China’s developers are speeding up final testing of their vaccines, while the government declared preparations for the large-scale vaccination across the country. Vaccines from Sinovac and Sinopharm were approved for emergency use in July, according to AP.
Despite concerns about the Chinese-created vaccines’ efficacy, the Asian giant said it will ensure the products are affordable for developing countries. This month, the provincial governments are placing orders for experimental, domestically made COVID-19 vaccines.
Despite that vaccination activity, the Chinese health officials have yet to say how well they work or how they may reach the country’s 1.4 billion people. Additionally, the developers have yet to disclose how effective their vaccines are and possible side effects.
Even without final approval, more than 1 million health care workers and others in China who are deemed at high risk of infection have received experimental vaccines under emergency use permission.
China’s has at least five anti-COVID drugs from four producers being tested in more than a dozen countries including Indonesia, Russia, Egypt, and Mexico. However, China said it will ensure the products are affordable for developing countries and has been actively pursuing deals across the world.
On Sunday, 1.2 million doses of the Chinese company Sinovac’s vaccine arrived in Indonesia, the government confirmed.
“We are very grateful, thank God, the vaccine is now available so that we can immediately curb the spread of the COVID-19 disease,” Indonesian President Joko Widodo said.
Health officials previously said China will be able to manufacture 610 million doses by the end of this year and ramp-up to 1 billion doses by 2021.
