The first China-developed mRNA Covid-19 vaccine is expected to enter Phase III clinical trials overseas next month, vaccine developer Suzhou Abogen Biosciences confirmed. Production capacity could reach some 120 million doses this year, according to the company’s founder Ying Bo, which will be a major breakthrough in domestic mRNA vaccines’ research and development (R&D). Experts suggest that using different types of vaccines – inactivated, mRNA, or adenovirus ones – to inoculate people could deliver better immunity. Being able to be stored and delivered in the usual range of 2º to 8ºC will make this domestic ARCoV vaccine stand out from Western mRNA vaccines made by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna, which require much lower temperatures. “From animal and clinical trial results, we see that ARCoV is fairly competitive with the other two mainstream mRNA vaccines in overseas markets,” Ying said. The producer is applying to start ARCoV’s Phase III trials overseas, likely in Latin American countries, expected in early May. Abogen announced the completion of a B round of financing totaling CNY600 million to accelerate vaccine R&D and production.

Chinese vaccine producer CanSinoBio said hat it had not received any report of blood clots after vaccination of millions of people with its recombinant adenovirus vector Covid-19 vaccine, amid reports that inoculations with the AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson’s vaccines were discontinued in several countries. CanSinoBio said that, although its vaccine uses the same technique, it uses a different adenovirus than the other two companies. CanSinoBio uses adenovirus type-5 as vector, a common adenovirus among humans, while AstraZeneca uses a chimpanzee adenovirus and Johnson & Johnson uses an adenovirus type-26.

Fosun Pharma has also submitted clinical trial data of BioNTech’s Covid-19 mRNA vaccine to China’s state regulator for review, in preparation for importing the first foreign-made Covid-19 vaccine. Approval is expected within the next 10 weeks. As some expats in China requested more vaccine options, experts said that approval of such imports could benefit foreigners coming to China. Many expats living in China have wanted some foreign-made vaccines for easier recognition when they return home. Once approved, BioNTech and Fosun would initially plan to supply the vaccine from BioNTech’s state-of-the-art production facilities in Germany, and BioNTech may consider shipping the bulk vaccine substance to the Chinese mainland for further packaging. The vaccine was approved in January for emergency use in Hong Kong.

China’s first biosecurity law went into effect, marking a “major milestone” for upholding the rule of law in areas critical to people’s health, the environment and national security, experts said. The law introduced regulations in eight major categories – infectious disease prevention and control, regulating research and applications related to biotechnology, biological laboratory safety and practices, protecting biological resources and human genetic resources, preventing invasive species and preserving biodiversity, tackling drug resistant microbial infections, deterring bioterrorism, and other activities related to biosecurity. Experts called the law “foundational legislation” that will guide, coordinate and introduce new laws and regulations related to biosafety. China has nearly 100 pieces of legislation and regulation related to biosecurity, according to law firm King & Wood Mallesons. However, many of them are either outdated or are difficult to enforce. In February last year, President Xi Jinping said biosecurity is vital to people’s health and the longterm stability of the country, hence it should be included in the national security system. The law was passed in October. 

This overview is based on reporting by the China Daily, Shanghai Daily and Global Times.

As China is speeding up its vaccination campaign, notices are popping up at the entrances to residential communities, shops and restaurants, showing the inoculation rate of the inhabitants or employees. The municipality of Beijing is now encouraging all its residents, especially the elderly, to get vaccinated in order to reach a 70% inoculation rate, the threshold for herd immunity, by May. At present, Beijing has already vaccinated more than 50% of the population. Some of the communities had rates of more than 80% and got a green sign and a “thank-you note,” while the ones with rates of 40% to 80% got a yellow sign. Those with rates of less than 40% got a red sign. Feng Duojia, President of the China Vaccine Industry Association, told the Global Times that China is expected to vaccinate 70% of its population by the end of 2021 to achieve herd immunity.

China and its partners that are promoting regional health code recognition can be pathfinders for a global vaccine passport program in the future, Chinese experts said, adding that although the World Health Organization (WHO) had reservations over vaccine passports, China’s efforts do not conflict with the WHO’s stance. China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that China and South Korea will coordinate and establish a mechanism for the mutual recognition of their health codes, in a move that would help further normalize business and tourism. WHO Spokeswoman Margaret Harris told a press conference that “we as the WHO are saying at this stage we would not like to see the vaccination passport as a requirement for entry or exit, because we are not certain at this stage that the vaccine prevents transmission.” Harris also mentioned possible discrimination against people who are not able to get a vaccine. But Tao Lina, a Shanghai-based vaccine expert, said that “vaccinated people are no longer vulnerable and should be treated differently from those who are not vaccinated.” Some airlines have been making preparations for the introduction of vaccine passports. Qatar Airways last week operated the world’s first flight carrying only vaccinated crew and passengers, with passengers also being served by fully vaccinated staff at check-in. Separately, more than 20 airlines have announced trials of the IATA Travel Pass.

China will gradually phase out tax and fee reduction policies that were launched last year to mitigate the effects of the Covid-19 epidemic on the economy, Assistant Finance Minister Ou Wenhan said. The country is set to extend some policies such as value-added tax (VAT) relief for small-scale taxpayers to maintain necessary support for the economy’s recovery, Ou told a press conference, adding that interim contingency policies to prevent infection and ensure supplies would be discontinued as they are due to expire. The economic recovery is expected to gain traction this year, with the IMF raising China’s growth projection to 8.4% in 2021, up 0.3 percentage points from the fund’s January forecast.

After the National Health Commission (NHC) discovered that in some regions in China vaccination has been made compulsory for all residents that meet the requirements, the Commission announced that such measures are not allowed and it would take action to rectify the situation. Wu Liangyou, Deputy Director of the Commission’s Disease Prevention and Control Bureau, said that “people who are eligible for Covid-19 vaccines should receive them according to their own will”.

Gao Fu, Director of the Chinese Center of Disease Control (China CDC) refuted claims by some media outlets and overseas social media that he “admitted” Chinese Covid-19 vaccines have a low protection rate, saying that “it was a complete misunderstanding.” As scientists around the world are discussing vaccine efficacy, he offered a scientific vision: that to improve the efficacy, adjustment of vaccination procedures and sequential inoculation of different types of vaccines might be options. “The protection rates of all vaccines in the world are sometimes high, and sometimes low. How to improve their efficacy is a question that needs to be considered by scientists around the world,” Gao said. “In this regard, I suggest that we can consider adjusting the vaccination process, such as the number of doses and intervals and adopting sequential vaccination with different types of vaccines.” 

Zheng Zhongwei, the National Health Commission official who heads China’s Covid-19 vaccine development task force, said that clinical trials show that all domestic vaccines can pre?vent severe cases and deaths at nearly 100%. Worldwide, nearly 270 Covid-19 vaccine candidates are in different stages of development, and 21 of them have completed or are under?going the third and late stage of human trials. China has given conditional approval to four domestically made vaccines and granted emergency use approval to one domestic candidate. China has so far administered more than 167 mil?lion doses of Covid-19 vaccines, with around 27.5 million doses given in the past week. 

This overview is based on reporting by the China Daily, Shanghai Daily and Global Times.

Last week, China reported a new Covid-19 outbreak in Ruili in Yunnan province, bordering Myanmar. More than 48 confirmed and 37 asymptomatic cases were detected. Some of the patients are Myanmar citizens. The local CDC said the infection was most probably imported from Myanmar and is not related to earlier localized outbreaks in China. Meanwhile the whole population of Ruili has been tested and more than 1,320 close contacts of the patients have been quarantined in eight hotels. A large-scale vaccination campaign has also been launched in five counties and cities in an effort to build an immunity barrier. All residents in the city are required to quarantine at home for a week and will not be allowed to go out unless they have a special reason. The resurgence of Covid-19 in the area is thought to have been the result of illegal border crossing, prompting the local government to impose strict controls in the border area. Ruili on April 5 raised the risk levels in three areas to “high risk” and in six areas to “medium risk,” breaking the 42-day streak after the Chinese mainland declared on February 22 that there were no longer any medium- and high-risk areas.

China is ramping up its efforts to vaccinate 560 million people, or 40% of the population, by the end of June. Another 330 million people will be vaccinated by the end of the year, covering 64% of the total population. China’s daily vaccination capacity can reach 10 million doses as the vaccination campaign scales up. Given a daily average of 10 million doses, the national total would reach approximately 1 billion doses by the end of June, covering at least 500 million people if each completes two shots, close to the target of immunizing 40% of the population – 560 million people – by the end of June. Nearly 400,000 people in Shanghai can be vaccinated every day, the local Center for Disease Control and Prevention said. So far, almost 2.5 million people have received at least one  shot, while more than 40,000 people have completed the vaccination with two shots.

Sinovac and Sinopharm Covid-19 vaccines are likely to be included into the emergency use list of the World Health Organization (WHO) by the end of April as both companies have provided efficacy data from their phase-3 clinical trials compatible with the WHO standard. The WHO sent experts to investigate their production workshops in Beijing in February.

Meanwhile, the WHO published its 120-page report on the origins of the Covid-19 pandemic, based on a trip to China by international experts. They determined that some positive samples were found outside China before the first cases were identified in Wuhan, suggesting that Covid-19 originated elsewhere. The likelihood that the virus escaped from a lab was deemed very low. China has urged the WHO to continue the search for the origins of Covid-19 outside China and also to examine whether cold chain transportation played a role. The WHO said the SARS-CoV-2 virus most probably jumped from bats to humans via an intermediary animal. The Chinese government dismissed reports that it withheld data from the WHO team, as alleged in the Western press. 

China should boost investment in core materials and technologies for making vaccines, including lipid nanoparticles (LNP) – which are scarce around the world right now – for making Covid-19 mRNA vaccines, Gao Fu, Director of the Chinese CDC said. Worldwide, there are currently only a few companies that supply LNP to vaccine makers, including Germany-based Evonik and Merck KGaA, and Canada-based Acuita, and many are running at their full capacity to meet the soaring demand. Only a few Chinese companies, including Luye Pharma Group, Stemirna, Cansino and Walvax have also been developing LNP. Several sectors in biomedical development have been receiving increased investments. “Ever since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, there has been rising attention in the biomedicine economy, including in clinical research organizations in animal-based research, and contract development and manufacturing organizations developing viral vectors,” Zhu Jinqiao, Chairman of EFUNG Investment Management Enterprise, a venture capital firm focusing on biomedicine, told the Global Times. The approved vaccines in China so far are mainly inactivated vaccines which are built on established mature technology, and the country is also ramping up efforts in developing or importing mRNA vaccines as an alternative choice.

China provided quarantine services to approximately 125,000 foreigners coming to China in 2020, according to statistics released by the National Immigration Administration in January.

This overview is based on reporting by the China Daily, Shanghai Daily and Global Times.

Expatriates in Shanghai can register for Covid-19 vaccinations from March 29. They need to scan the “Jiankangyun” QR code, the Shanghai Health Commission announced. In Beijing, foreigners can apply through their employers, schools or residential communities. Shanghai and Beijing became the second and third city in China to offer vaccinations to foreign residents older than 18, following Wuhan, where expat residents aged between18 and 59 have been able to apply for inoculations starting this month. Meanwhile, China has already administered more than 100 million vaccine doses. The current vaccination rate in China is 5.76%, ranking 57^th in the world. 

In Shanghai, after scanning the QR code, expats will receive a confirmation on their phone, and can then visit the designated venue for the shot at the allotted time. They must wear masks, and show their passports and valid residence permits. They will have to sign a consent form  and disclaimer before taking the vaccination. A doctor at the site will decide if they are fit for the vaccine after determining their health condition. A China-made inactivated vaccine will be used. Expats who have Chinese social insurance will get the shots for free while others have to pay around CNY100 per dose. The shots have to be taken twice with an interval of at least 14 days. Shanghai has also started vaccinating residents aged from 60 to 75.

Beijing’s Daxing district, with a population of about 1.8 million, started handing out coupons worth CNY8 to CNY30 to people having been vaccinated. The coupons can be used in supermarkets in the district. The measure is aimed at promoting vaccinations. The total amount of coupons will reach CNY200 million. Vaccinating in China has been slower than expected due to a lack of urgency among a public confident in the early success in curbing the virus, but China is now ramping up its vaccination campaign. China aims to vaccinate 40% of its population by the end of June. China’s daily output of Covid-19 vaccines has reached about 5 million doses, more than tripling the 1.5 million-dose daily production rate on February 1, according to Minister of Industry and Information Technology Xiao Yaqing. China’s mass vaccination campaign has entered the fast track with its daily inoculations leaping from 1 million to nearly 3 million within a week. It will ultimately reach 10 million a week.

Sinovac Biotech plans to expand its vaccine capacity to 2 billion doses per year, while Sinopharm could expand its  production to 1 billion doses, and CanSino Biologics to 2 billion to 2.5 billion doses this year. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) is actively coordinating efforts to expand production and ensure the supply of syringes and glass vials. As part of efforts to accelerate vaccination across the country, China is set to expand the number of vaccination venues from 20,000 to 50,000. 

This overview is based on reporting by the China Daily, Shanghai Daily and Global Times.

China is easing border restrictions to allow some foreigners back in, including those from the U.S., India and Australia, provided they have taken a Chinese-made Covid-19 vaccine. The country has been closed to most foreigners since last March to stem the spread of the coronavirus. Chinese embassies in about 20 countries have issued notices saying the country will open visa applications to select people who have taken a China-made vaccine. According to the new visa policy, foreign nationals and their family members traveling to the Chinese mainland to resume work need only to provide the documents required before the Covid-19 pandemic when applying for a visa. Foreign family members of Chinese citizens or permanent residents can apply for visas “out of emergency humanitarian needs” once their vaccination certificates are obtained. The new visa rule applies to those who had either had two doses of the vaccine or a single-dose at least 14 days before applying for the visa.

But while the requirements to apply for a Chinese visa have been slightly simplified, the procedure to board flights to China and the quarantine upon arrival have not. Passengers flying directly to the Chinese mainland still have to take a nucleic acid test and serum IgM anti-body test and apply for a green health code with the “HS” mark or a certified Health Declaration Form before boarding, and have to be quarantined upon arrival for two to three weeks. Applicants in Hong Kong who have received a Chinese vaccine are exempted from providing a negative nucleic acid test and health certification. 

The country had administered 74.96 million vaccine doses as of March 20. China aims to vaccinate 40% of its 1.4 billion people by the middle of the year, according to He Qinghua, a National Health Commission official. “We do not exempt vaccinated people from testing and quarantine for the time being,” said Feng Zijian, Vice Director of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention. But he said China will pay attention to international progress in developing “vaccine passports” and could adjust measures to control the epidemic after the domestic population reaches a high level of immunization. The relatively low rate of vaccination in China was one reason Feng cited for maintaining the current measures for overseas arrivals. He also noted concerns about how effective vaccines are against new variants of the virus. 

China has approved five domestically-made vaccines for use in the country, but has yet to approve any foreign-made ones. China approved a recombinant protein subunit vaccine against Covid-19 for emergency use. It was developed by the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Microbiology and Anhui Zhifei Longcom Biopharmaceutical. It is currently in late-stage clinical trials in countries including Uzbekistan, Pakistan, Ecuador and Indonesia, with plans to inoculate 29,000 volunteers. It has already been approved for general use in Uzbekistan. Subunit protein vaccines contain purified pieces of the virus’s protein to train the immune system. These fragments are incapable of causing disease, making such vaccines very safe.

The number of flights entering and leaving Beijing is surging due to a loosening of quarantine policies for travelers, a sign of the gradual recovery of China’s transportation and tourism sectors after the pandemic. A total of 1,668 flights entered or left Beijing Capital International Airport and Beijing Daxing International Airport on March 16, up 20.1% over March 9 and the highest so far in 2021, according to Chinese flight information provider VariFlight. Passenger load factors on March 16 at the two airports increased to 72%, up 28.6 percentage points from a week earlier. China Railway Beijing Group Co also said the volume of passengers entering Beijing by rail rose significantly on March 16 to 276,800, nearly 100,000 more than a day earlier. With two approaching holidays – Qingming Festival and Labor Day – domestic hotels are seeing more bookings. Chinese online travel agency Trip.com expects about 100 million domestic tourists to make trips during the Qingming Festival holiday.

China’s imported cold-chain food industry, once a center of attention over repeated Covid-19 cases, is bouncing back after a surge in consumption during and after the Chinese Spring Festival. Salmon from Norway and cherries from Chile are popular once again, the Global Times reports. Sales are picking up in restaurants and stores, and a full recovery is expected in the second half of the year. Norway exported 21,867 tons of seafood to China worth USD68.7 million so far this year, Victoria Braathen, Director for the Chinese mainland and Hong Kong at the Norwegian Seafood Council, said. Imported cold-chain food came under close scrutiny following rising numbers of reported Covid-19 cases since June 2020, when the coronavirus was detected on a chopping board used by a vendor of imported salmon at the Xinfadi market in Beijing. Some cherry importers are now trying to make up for losses caused by Covid-19. “The pandemic dealt a heavy blow to the cherry industry. Many people I know went bankrupt. But there are always profits and losses in business. I hope that the pandemic can be controlled this year, and as long as Chinese people still love imported cherries, there is an opportunity,” an imported cherry dealer  told the Global Times.

A medical worker at a hospital’s quarantine ward in Xian, Shaanxi Province, was confirmed as a Covid-19 case on March 18, ending the Chinese mainland’s 31-days of zero new domestically-transmitted cases since February 15. An accidental exposure in the isolation ward caused the infection. The medical worker was responsible for collecting nucleic acid test samples of Covid-19 patients and carrying out laboratory tasks in the hospital. He had recently received his second vaccine dose. Zeng Guang,  Chief Epidemiologist of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said that coronavirus treatment hospitals are high-risk areas where infection of  vaccinated medical staff could no be ruled out. The hospital has eight imported cases and five asymptomatic cases under quarantine.

This overview is based on reporting by the South China Morning Post, the China Daily, Shanghai Daily and Global Times.