Posted in Health

China will import at least 100 million doses of vaccine next year

 2020年12月16日

While Beijing is developing its own vaccine against coronavirus COVID-19, FosunPharma, a Chinese fosun pharmaceutical, announced on Wednesday that it would import at least 100 million doses of German biotech BioNTech’s coronavirus vaccine next year.

Currently, the vaccine produced by BioNTech, a German biotechnology company, in cooperation with Pfizer of the United States, has been licensed for sale in the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada and other countries/regions and has been vaccinated.

Chinese laboratories are also working on experimental COVID-19 vaccines, which have begun to be widely distributed in the country to people at high risk of coronavirus infection, but have not yet been officially approved by authorities, AFP said.

BioNTech, a German biotechnology company, will supply China with no less than 100 million doses of coronavirus vaccine in 2021, fosun pharma said in a statement sent to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on Wednesday. Fosun will pay 250 million euros upfront for 50 million doses of the vaccine.

Fosun pharma and Germany’s BioNTech will share profits from vaccine sales in mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau. Two-thirds of the profits will go to Fosun Pharmaceuticals and one-third to BioNTech of Germany. Fosun Pharma is a subsidiary of Fosun International. The cross-industry group owns Club Med.

China, which had its first coronavirus outbreak late last year, has invested heavily in vaccine development, AFP said. Xi Jinping, China’s president, has promised to turn China’s vaccines into “global public property”.

So ABU Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, began vaccinating its residents against the coronavirus on Monday, a vaccine made by The Chinese firm Sinopac.

China currently has four vaccines in final testing. Chinese LABS are conducting tests in Brazil, the United Arab Emirates, Turkey and other countries. A vaccine being tested in Peru by China’s Sinopac has been suspended after a volunteer developed neurological problems.

On Monday, Brazil’s health regulator, Anvisa, said China had used an “opaque” standard to get an emergency marketing permit for another sinovac vaccine, CoronaVac.