Chinese company 99% certain that its COVID-19 vaccine ‘CoronaVac’ will be effective

A Chinese biopharmaceutical company has claimed that it is 99 per cent sure that its experimental coronavirus vaccine ‘CoronaVac’ would be effective in preventing the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes COVID-19.

It is Sinovac Biotech Ltd, a leading biopharmaceutical company in China, who has already entered stage 2 trials of its COVID-19 antibody with more than 1,000 volunteers , has purported that they were nearing the successful development of Covid-19 vaccine.

Luo Baishan, a researcher at Sinovac, told Sky News that the company believes that its inactivated vaccine against COVID-19 would be successful. “Yes, yes. It must be successful… 99% [sure],” he replied when asked whether he thought the vaccine would be effective against the novel coronavirus.

Last month, the Beijing-based company published their findings of the CoronaVac in a peer-reviewed academic journal Science that the vaccine candidate is safe and provides protection to rhesus macaques (monkeys) from coronavirus infection.

The Phase II clinical trial assesses the immunogenicity and safety of the vaccine in a larger population in order to define dosage, regimen and immunisation schedule, said the company. Sinovac is said to be in preliminary talks to conduct stage 3 trials, which is the final part of the process, in the UK.

“We are speaking to several European countries and I think did discuss with the UK as well. Currently, it’s a very preliminary stage for the discussion.” Helen Yang, senior director of investor relations, was quoted as saying by the report.

Sinovac, which has made significant progress in CoronaVac development, said it is currently building a commercial vaccine production plant that can help manufacture up to 100 million doses of its vaccine annually. The pharmaceutical firm has secured $15 million in funding to accelerate COVID-19 vaccine development.

At present, more than 110 candidates are in fray globally to develop coronavirus vaccine in which 10 have already started human trials. Worldwide, at least 370,261 people have now lost their lives to COVID-19 pandemic and as many as 6,113,340 cases have been confirmed in 196 countries and territories.