China approves its first mRNA vaccine, months after easing Covid restrictions
China has approved its first messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccine for Covid-19 from a Chinese pharmaceutical that had the technology, as per media reports. The approved mRNA vaccine is created by CSPC Pharmaceutical Group however it is only authorised for use in emergencies, the firm said in a statement to the Hong Kong stock market on Wednesday.
The move comes after tight Covid-19 regulations led to a major infection wave resulting in at least hundreds of thousands of fatalities. China’s approval for the mRNAs comes years after these vaccinations were made widely available across the rest of the world.
Not making use of the available mRNA vaccines has long been seen as a significant gap for Beijing in tackling its COVID crisis. The regulatory approval for CSPC’s vaccine fills that gap. It further strengthens the nation’s dependence on domestic vaccines alone to immunise its 1.4 billion people.
Mass manufacturing of this sort of technology was challenging for China’s existing inactivated shots created by Sinopharm and Sinovac, which induce a lower immune response.
Inactivated vaccines use the killed version of the germ that causes a disease however, mRNA uses a molecule called messenger RNA (mRNA). The mRNA vaccines offer a possible substitute for traditional vaccination strategies and are also said to provide improved immunisation.
Analysts said that Beijing has maintained its contentious zero-Covid policy because of its dependence on local vaccinations so far, as per financial times.
China imposed severe quarantine measures on visitors from other countries. The country also imposed stern lockdowns to prevent the COVID-19 spread however, its strict pandemic policies slowed down the economy and messed up supply chains.
The world’s most populous country abandoned pandemic bans months ago.
Despite a plethora of data and applications submitted by regional partner Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical Group, the Chinese government is reluctant to authorise the mRNA injection created by BioNTech SE and Pfizer. The pandemic in China was only managed by inactivated vaccines created by the state-owned pharmaceutical companies.
