Chinese military scientists hope to test coronavirus vaccine abroad
- Results from a first-stage clinical trial will be published this month, but researchers say more extensive tests would best be conducted overseas
- Tests conducted in some of the worst-hit countries could help produce faster and more accurate results
China hopes to test a possible Covid-19 vaccine abroad as scientists look to carry out large-scale trials to test its effectiveness.
Military scientists have been working on a vaccine and the results of the first-stage clinical trials will be announced later this month.
We have contained the virus so fast, and now we don’t have enough confirmed cases for further vaccine testing
Chen Ling, a virologist at the State Key Laboratory of Respiratory Disease, said the second and third-stage trials would need thousands of subjects and carrying out these tests in the worst-hit countries would help to produce faster and more accurate results.
“We have contained the virus so fast, and now we don’t have enough confirmed cases for further vaccine testing,” he said.
“For example, it may need thousands of people to be tested in order to know if there is a statistical significance in protection between people who received a candidate vaccine and people who didn’t.” ”
She was quoted as saying that many countries had expressed interest in working with her research team to test the recombinant vaccine – which uses a harmless virus or bacterium to introduce the pathogen’s genetic material into the body to build up immunity – but did not name the countries in question.
The disease, which is caused by a previously unknown coronavirus, was first identified in the Chinese city of Wuhan and has since spread globally.
At least 900,000 cases have been confirmed and more than 45,000 people have died.
The number of cases recorded in Italy, Spain and the United States have now surpassed China’s total.
Tao Lina, a Shanghai-based vaccine expert, said it would be better to carry out future clinical tests in these countries, or other developed nations such as Britain and Germany, where there is a high level of scientific attainment.
Tao, a former official with Shanghai’s centre for disease control and prevention, said the US was likely to be unwilling to cooperate with China, but Beijing could work with other hard-hit nations such as Britain.
Chinese military scientists ordered to win coronavirus vaccine race
The test began a day after the US National Institutes of Health announced that another possible vaccine, developed by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and a biotechnology company, had also started clinical trials.
Beijing-based military analyst Zhou Chenming said that ideally American scientists would work with their Chinese counterparts to develop a vaccine.
“The best weapon to fight the pandemic is a joint operation between China and the US, putting aside their political disagreements,” Zhou said.
“Now the whole world – not just China or the US – is facing a common enemy: Covid-19.”
Sign up now and get a 10% discount (original price US$400) off the China AI Report 2020 by SCMP Research. Learn about the AI ambitions of Alibaba, Baidu & JD.com through our in-depth case studies, and explore new applications of AI across industries. The report also includes exclusive access to webinars to interact with C-level executives from leading China AI companies (via live Q&A sessions). Offer valid until 31 May 2020.
