Chinese Sinovac: "COVID Variant Vaccine Can Be Released Within 10 Weeks"

"Brazil Collects Variant Virus in South Africa"
"Faster Response to Variants than Western mRNA Vaccines"

[Image source=AP Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunwoo Lee] Chinese pharmaceutical company Sinovac has secured a substantial amount of COVID-19 variant viruses for research and announced that it can release a vaccine capable of responding to variant viruses within the next 10 weeks.

According to local media including the Chinese state-run Global Times on the 13th, Liu Peicheng, Sinovac spokesperson, stated at a press conference, "We have already collected a significant amount of variant viruses from Brazil and South Africa and are currently studying the differences among the variant viruses," adding, "It will be possible to produce a vaccine capable of responding to variant viruses within as soon as 10 weeks."

He explained, "It takes about 10 weeks from virus cultivation to market release, and since we already have a skilled vaccine production line, the production of vaccines against COVID-19 variant viruses will be much faster than before," and evaluated, "Sinovac's existing vaccines are being administered worldwide and appear to function well in COVID-19 immunity."

Chinese vaccine expert Tao Lina told the Global Times in an interview, "Sinovac's development speed is not an exaggeration," explaining, "Once the variant virus is secured, the manufacturer only needs to replace the virus in the cultivation device." Vaccines made this way can be used for emergency purposes after animal testing or phase 1 clinical trials on humans.

The Global Times dismissed distrust of Chinese vaccines as baseless criticism from Western countries, stating, "Western countries produce COVID-19 vaccines by replicating messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) containing genetic information, but Sinovac's inactivated vaccine can be updated faster against variant viruses than mRNA vaccines," and claimed, "Sinovac vaccine's competitiveness will increase in the future."