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Coronavirus China
ChinaScience

China’s Sinovac to test Omicron-targeting vaccines in Chile

  • Trial in South American country will test the safety and immunity-triggering ability of two Covid-19 jabs
  • Chinese pharmaceutical company’s booster candidate is also being studied in Hong Kong

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China was once the world’s biggest exporter of Covid-19 vaccines to developing countries, but exports plummeted this year. Photo: Xinhua
Josephine Ma
Sinovac Biotech will hold an initial trial in Chile to test two of its inactivated vaccines targeting the Omicron variant, the Chinese pharmaceutical company announced on Tuesday.
The trials, which were just approved by Chilean regulators, will test two candidates: one targeting just Omicron and a trivalent vaccine targeting the Delta, Omicron and original variants.

Sinovac said it would be the first trial of an inactivated Covid-19 vaccine targeting multiple variants.

According to the company, the phase 2 trial will test the safety and immunity-triggering potential of the candidates as a booster for adults who have already received two booster doses of mRNA vaccines, viral vector vaccines or an inactivated vaccine by Sinovac.
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A total of 826 fully vaccinated adults will be recruited for the trial. One trial group will include people who received two primary doses of Sinovac’s inactivated vaccines followed by two boosters of mRNA or viral vector vaccines. They will be randomly assigned a booster dose of Sinovac’s existing inactivated vaccine, its Omicron-targeting candidate or the trivalent candidate.

Another group will include people who have received four doses of the current inactivated vaccines by Sinovac. They will receive either a booster dose of the Omicron-targeting vaccine or the trivalent vaccine.

06:41

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Three inactivated vaccines targeting the Omicron variant are currently being tested in Hong Kong, with a total of 1,800 participants taking part in the trials. They include Sinovac’s Omicron-targeting vaccine and two candidates from subsidiaries of Sinopharm. The Sinovac vaccine is based on strains obtained in December, including one isolated by the University of Hong Kong.

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