COVID-19 vaccine news is coming thick and fast this month, as several projects have declared positive early results and ignited hopes the pandemic is running on borrowed time. Does China have a vaccine for COVID-19?
COVID vaccinations from the US and UK could provide people with more than 90 percent protection against the deadly disease. Pfizer, Moderna and now Oxford University have all presented promising early results, paving the way for approval on either side of the Atlantic. Theirs aren't the only ongoing vaccine projects, however, with other, less popularised jabs in Eastern Europe and the Far East.
Does China have a vaccine for COVID?
Attention in Europe has focussed on the US and local vaccine developers, but researchers have also worked hard in the former COVID-19 epicentre.
China has developed several potential COVID-19 jabs, five in total.
Of these, China National Pharmaceutical Group (Sinopharm) has two in the works.
COVID vaccine news: China has seen a decline in cases other countries have not (Image: GETTY)
Sinopharm executives said they have already started administering one of their experimental COVID-19 vaccines.
They recently claimed nearly one million people have taken it since summer this year.
Local authorities started releasing it to select groups of people in June.
Students, Chinese officials and overseas workers received it first, allegedly before they had proven successful.
COVID vaccine news: COVID vaccines currently awaiting full approval (Image: EXPRESS)
According to The Guardian, Sinopharm chairman Liu Jingzhen said travellers who received it did not ignite outbreaks.
Speaking in a WeChat interview, he added they had travelled to more than 150 nations around the world.
Mr Jingzhen said: “There has not been a single case of infection after inoculation.
“Only individual patients have had some mild symptoms."
COVID vaccine news: Scientists have allegedly started handing out doses of their experimental jab (Image: GETTY)
China's jabs all allegedly remain in their infancy, yet to receive full approval.
The situation there is different compared to the rest of the world, with a now relatively low incidence of COVID-19.
Nevertheless, three of the inactivated jabs have received both local emergency approval.
The vaccines have gained local and international approval, in China and the United Arab Emirates.
Russia has also released a COVID-19 vaccine, which it recently claimed carries 95 percent effectiveness.
The country joined China as one of the first to release a jab earlier this year, and theirs - named Sputnik V - is also uncertified.
News of its efficacy comes from Russian officials alone, who have hailed Sputnik V "indisputably positive news not just for Russia, but for the entire world, for all countries".
Officials with the European Commission said they have not seen data confirming how protective it is.
https://www.express.co.uk/life-style/health/1364093/Does-China-have-a-vaccine-for-COVID-evg
