Chinese drug maker offers experimental Covid-19 vaccines to students heading overseas

Name: China to test all 9 million people in port city of Qingdao after cluster of only 12 cases found
Uploaded: 2020-10-13T10:37:07.000Z
Duration: 1 min 30 s
Description: China to test all 9 million people in port city of Qingdao after cluster of only 12 cases found

State-owned China National Biotec Group says it will provide its two candidates for free to those who register online

They are still in the final stage of human trials but were approved for emergency use in July

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CNBG has two experimental Covid-19 vaccines in the final stage of clinical trials. Photo: AP

Zhuang Pinghui

Published: 6:37pm, 13 Oct 2020Updated: 10:36pm, 13 Oct 2020

A Chinese drug maker is offering its experimental Covid-19 shots to students heading overseas to study, even though the vaccines are still in clinical trials, according to mainland media reports.

State-owned China National Biotec Group, or CNBG, says it will provide its two inactivated vaccine candidates for free to such students, without giving any age restrictions, according to financial news site China Star Market. Students can register their interest online and they will be given the shots in Beijing or Wuhan.

The two experimental vaccines are in the final stage of human trials but they were approved for emergency use in July by China’s drug regulator, the National Medical Products Administration. Although the World Health Organization supported that move, there have been concerns about using a vaccine that has not completed clinical trials.

As of September, more than 350,000 people in China had been given the experimental shots outside the clinical trials and none had shown severe side effects, according to a report by state-run Science and Technology Daily last month. That included tens of thousands of people who were given the shots before they went overseas, none of whom had been infected with the coronavirus, the report said.

The pandemic has largely been brought under control in China, as other countries continue to grapple with the virus that has killed more than a million people worldwide.

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China to test all 9 million people in port city of Qingdao after cluster of only 12 cases found

CNBG could not immediately be reached for comment on Tuesday.