China Approves Two Experimental COVID-19 Vaccines for Clinical Trials

By Staff, Agencies

China approved two experimental vaccines against COVID-19 for phase one and two of clinical trials, Xinhua news agency reported on Tuesday.

These two new inactivated coronavirus vaccines were developed by the Wuhan Institute of Biological Products and a unit of Nasdaq-listed Sinovac Biotech in Beijing in conjunction with relevant scientific research institutions.

Earlier, one of the Chinese medical experts, Wang Kaili, warned that the coronavirus infection vaccine currently being developed by China is just entering the first phase of the clinical trials, and it will probably take more than a year to finish it.

Clinical trials of the first vaccine developed in China began in mid-March, with 108 volunteers taking part in them. It was developed by China's Academy of Military Medical Sciences and HK-listed biotech firm CanSino Bio.

The recent disease originated in China's Wuhan last December, but its epicenter later shifted to Europe. Now the United States has registered the highest number of coronavirus infections.