China Has Already Begun To Vaccinate People With Under-Trial Covid-19 Vaccine By Sinopharm: Report

China has reportedly begun to vaccinate citizens with a currently under-trial Covid-19 vaccine candidate, being developed by government-owned Sinopharm.

According to a Washington Post report cited by the Indian Express, head of China’s Coronavirus vaccine development programme, Zheng Zongwei recently revealed on state television that the country was administering the vaccine on people since 22 July under emergency use authorisation.

The vaccine candidate is currently undergoing phase-three clinical trials in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Zongwei acknowledged the development and said many more people were to be given vaccine shots in the coming months.

“In order to prevent the disease spread in the fall and winter, we are considering a moderate expansion in the programme… The purpose would be to first build and immunity barrier among special groups in the population,” he was reported to have said.

The report, however, says that the Sinopharm-developed vaccine is being administered on special groups of people as of yet.

According to the report, the vaccine being given to normal public is different from the one that has been approved for the use on the People's Liberation Army soldiers. Developed by CanSino Biologics in collaboration with Academy of Military Medical Sciences was passed in June for limited use.

It is still unclear how many soldiers have been vaccinated by it.