Massive needs accelerate worldwide vaccines race

November has witnessed an information explosion of global COVID- 19 research and development.

In the 16 days from November 9 to 25, three Western vaccine producers – Pfizer, Moderna and AstraZeneca – have revealed their interim Phase- III clinical trial data, and two Chinese companies – Sinovac and Sinopharm – separately unveiled plans on data publishing or applications for marketing.

China’s leading vaccine producer China National Pharmaceutical Group ( Sinopharm) on Wednesday announced that it has submitted an application to Chinese authorities to license its COVID- 19 vaccine for the Chinese market.

This phenomenon indicates that the global vaccine race has turned white- hot as more and more countries are eager to roll out massive vaccination programs in face of the exhausting and deadly pandemic, observers said, adding that these countries also fear a sharp vaccine shortage once viable candidates are available.

At least five countries – Japan, the US, UAE, Russia and Spain – had announced free vaccination plans for the public as of Tuesday.

According to a document the United Nations Children’s Fund ( UNICEF) released in August, the global demand for COVID- 19 vaccines will reach 1.3 billion doses by the end of 2020, 1.8 billion by June 2021 and 7.4 billion by the end of 2021. Meanwhile, supply capacity will be 110 million

doses by the end of 2020, and 5.4 billion by the end of 2021. However, this is seemingly far less than the actual production that can be expected, according to data released by global vaccine producers.

Promising prospects

Sinopharm said that they would be able to produce 1 billion doses next year.

A representative from Sinopharm told the Global Times on Wednesday that Sinopharm had collected data from major countries carrying out clinical trials of its vaccine, such as the UAE.

Chinese pharmaceutical company Fosun Pharma, the Chinese partner of German vaccine producer BioNTech’s vaccine BNT162b2, also told the Global Times that Phase- II clinical trials of the vaccine kicked off in Taizhou and Lianshui in East China’s Jiangsu Province.

Pfizer, which is the partner of BioNTech outside China, also reportedly plans to manufacture 50 million doses of the vaccine by the end of this year and increase its production to 1.3 billion doses next year.

International cooperation

Some Western media have compared the vaccine race during this year’s pandemic with last century’s “gold rush,” which was full of favor of money and power. They described China’s efficient vaccine research and development and kind offer of vaccines to countries and regions in need as revealing the country’s ambition to use the vaccine as a tool to play geopolitics. Chinese experts refuted this allegation as a distortion of China’s sincerity to help promote global public health and a politicization of China’s vaccines.

As the pandemic situation in China is essentially under control, the Chinese central government and companies have been actively offering support to countries and regions in need of vaccines, with Chinese leaders reiterating on many international occasions that the country will provide its vaccines as a public good accessible and affordable to people around the world.

In a phone conversation with German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Tuesday, Chinese President Xi Jinping said that China stands ready to strengthen exchanges and cooperation with Germany on COVID- 19 vaccines and push for the vaccines to be fairly distributed as a global public good, especially for the benefit of developing countries.

China and Germany have been cooperating on combating the pandemic, including the development of vaccines throughout the outbreak.

The two sides’ collaboration has progressed well under the support of the German and Chinese governments, a representative from Fosun Pharma told the Global Times.

China’s repeated promise to provide its vaccines as a public good indicates the country’s responsibility when the world is facing such an unprecedented health disaster, experts noted.

Unlike Western countries and companies that have engaged too many capital and geopolitical factors in vaccines – for example, some companies may scramble to release clinical trial data to attract investment rather than to provide hope for people suffering from the novel coronavirus – China pays more attention to public health and is obligated to take more responsibility to ensure fair vaccine provision as a big power, they said.