On January 13, 2021, a health worker shows off a dose of China’s Sinopharm Covid-19 vaccine at a vaccination center in the Jordanian capital, Amman.
Khalil Mazraawi | AFP | Getty Images
BEIJING – Sinopharm, a state-owned giant in China’s coronavirus vaccine development, has announced that its chairman has left the board.
The company cited personal reasons for Li Zhiming’s resignation, according to a submission from the Hong Kong-listed company. Li Hui, a director and audit committee member of Sinopharm subsidiary China National Medicines Corp., also resigned on Tuesday for personal reasons, announcing a separate submission.
In late December, Chinese authorities approved a vaccine developed by a Sinopharm subsidiary in Beijing for general launch. State media said the vaccine rose 79.34% after a phase three test.
Earlier in December, the United Arab Emirates said the vaccine was 86% effective.
There was no direct indication that the resignations came as a result of vaccine-related work. The company did not immediately respond to a request for comment from CNBC.
Several countries have published divergent results on the efficacy of a coronavirus vaccine from another Chinese company, Sinovac.
A WHO team works with producers of Covid-19 vaccines from Chinese pharmaceutical companies Sinovac and Sinopharm “to evaluate compliance with quality international manufacturing practices before listing potential listings by the WTO”, said WTO Director-General , Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said earlier this week. .