Sinopharm proposes booster for select groups

China National Biotec Group has suggested Chinese authorities offer the public an additional third shot of its COVID-19 inactivated vaccines as a booster shot, according to a senior executive of the company.

During an exclusive interview with China Daily on Sunday during the 2021 China International Fair for Trade in Services, held in Beijing from Sep 2 to 7, Chen Kun, secretary of the commission for discipline inspection at CNBG, said trials have shown the company's two inactivated vaccines can effectively protect people from existing mainstream strains of the new coronavirus.

Yet if a person gets a third additional shot six months after he or she finishes the two-shot inoculation program, his or her antibody levels will increase five to 10 times, Chen said.

"The company has proposed to provide an additional third shot of the vaccines within six months to a year following the two-shot regimen for special groups, such as seniors and people working in certain services sectors, including airport staff and deliverymen," Chen said.

The bioscience subsidiary of State-owned healthcare company Sinopharm, CNBG has been conducting research and development in different types of COVID-19 vaccines via inactivated, recombinant and mRNA technologies.

According to Chen, the company's recombinant vaccine candidate has finished first and second-phase clinical trials in China with favorable results.

CNBG is currently preparing for the third-phase clinical trial on the efficacy and safety of the vaccine, which will be launched overseas, he said.

While establishing the mRNA-based vaccine development platform, the company is also making plans for construction of a large-scale production facility for the mRNA-based vaccine, he added.

CNBG, the first company to launch a COVID-19 vaccine in China, has brought its latest COVID-19 tests, vaccines and treatments to the fair for exhibition.

That includes the updated versions of its two approved inactivated vaccines, two vaccine candidates under development via recombinant and mRNA technologies, and three test kits.

COVID-19 vaccines of CNBG have been registered in nine countries and provided to about 105 countries, regions and international organizations under emergency use authorization.

The World Health Organization approved the emergency use of a COVID-19 vaccine from CNBG in May, making it the sixth vaccine whose safety, effectiveness and quality were validated by the organization. The vaccine also became the first created by a developing country to win WHO backing.

Chinese authorities gave conditional market approval for each of CNBG's two inactivated vaccines last December and this February.