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Coronavirus vaccine trials are underway around the world. But China’s hoping it can be first for ‘redemption’

Byindianadmin

May 8, 2020 #'first, #hoping
Coronavirus vaccine trials are underway around the world. But China’s hoping it can be first for ‘redemption’

In a medical centre in the eastern city of Xuzhou, a few dozen healthy adults have become some of the first to trial a vaccine candidate for the coronavirus.

Key points:

  • Five of the eight human trials to find a COVID-19 vaccine are in China
  • Sinovac Biotech is trying to prevent the virus’ ability to reproduce
  • Beijing is keen for a successful Chinese vaccine to help restore its global reputation

They are among a small group of people in China, the US and Britain who are pioneering the first human trials of different potential vaccines for COVID-19.

According to the Chinese company behind the Xuzhou vaccine, Sinovac Biotech, they are working around the clock.

“Normally the development of a vaccine will take eight to 10 years,” senior director of overseas business for Sinovac Meng Weining told the ABC.

“For this vaccine, it’s really a pandemic, so we’re trying our best to make it as quick as possible for each step.”

Sinovac — a private company supported by China’s government — previously worked on a SARS vaccine that was abandoned when the deadly virus disappeared in 2003, and in more recent years has developed avian flu and hepatitis vaccines.

This time, Sinovac is using a conventional method for its potential vaccine, inactivating the virus’ ability to reproduce.

Boxes of a medicine called SARS-CoV-2 Vaccine

Sinovac Biotech says its vaccine will hopefully work by preventing the virus’s ability to reproduce.(ABC News: Steve Wang)

It’s now one of five Chinese companies or government research organisatio

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