Chinese scientists hail results of coronavirus vaccine trials

BEJING: Chinese scientists have hailed the results of their current phase I and II clinical trials of a potential COVID-19 vaccine, saying it had been proved safe and that volunteers had developed an immune response.

The scientists from a famous Chinese biotech company claimed that its new COVID-19 vaccine can help patients develop the virus antibodies within a short span of one month.

Sinovac Biotech Ltd CEO, Yin Weidong said the current clinical trials of the vaccine have shown excellent results, as all of the volunteers who were inoculated the vaccine developed antibodies and none of them are showing unfavorable reactions.

Yin Weidong further said over 1,200 volunteers have had our coronavirus vaccine, and no more than five percent of them have shown mild fatigue and other scratchy symptoms.

“After vaccination, approximately all of them, or statistically about 97 percent to 98 percent have developed antibodies,” he added.

The company’s CEO maintained, “The current immunization procedure is a 0-14 model, that is, the second injection will be provided 14 days after the first injection, or be given 28 days after the first injection. After those two procedures, you will have developed the virus antibodies within one month”,  he said.

In July, China had announced to provide the COVID-19 vaccine to Pakistan to vaccinate the most susceptible among its population, including the elderly, healthcare and people with medical conditions associated with serious cases of the coronavirus.

China has reached one of its first agreements to test its COVID-19 vaccine in populations beyond its borders.

About one-fifth of the country’s population could be covered by the allocation while Pakistan is also negotiating with another Chinese company to conduct trials of its vaccine in the country.