BEIJING (Reuters) – China National Biotec Group (CNBG) has administered more than 4 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine through China’s emergency use program since January 4, the company said late Thursday.
Two vaccines from two institutes owned by CNBG, a unit of the state-subsidized China National Pharmaceutical Group (Sinopharm), respectively, have been included in China’s emergency vaccination scheme, which officially began in July with specific groups of people at high risk of infection.
“No serious adverse reaction has been reported in the large-scale emergency use of Sinopharm’s COVID-19 vaccines,” CNBG told Chinese social media WeChat.
A total of 72,000 people were overseas after receiving China’s emergency sticks, including about 40% of more than 5,000 staff members for a Chinese company’s Pakistan-based project, CNBG said.
None of the vaccinated diplomats, international organization representatives or employees of Chinese companies who went to countries with a high virus risk contracted the COVID-19 disease caused by the new coronavirus, despite their close contact with infected residents , CNBG said.
The firm did not break down the amount of doses for each of the two vaccines used in the emergency program.
Apart from the two vaccines from CNBG, China’s emergency use program also includes a possible shot of Sinovac Biotech. A fourth CanSino Biologics candidate has been approved for use in Chinese military personnel.
The vaccine from the CNBG unit Beijing Institute of Biological Products was approved in China last year for wider use among the general public. The two-dose treatment is 79.34% effective against the disease, according to the interim analysis of late-stage clinical trials abroad.
Although the protection rate of the CNBG vaccine is lower than the more than 90% efficacy of vaccines from Moderna Inc or Pfizer Inc and its partner BioNTech SE, it can be transported and stored at less demanding temperatures.
(Reported by Roxanne Liu and Ryan Woo; edited by Hugh Lawson)