China approves first mRNA Covid-19 shot from local firm CSPC Pharma

22 March 2023 - 07:55 By Bloomberg News
subscribe Just R20 for the first month. Support independent journalism by subscribing to our digital news package.
Subscribe now
The mRNA vaccine, developed by CSPC Pharmaceutical Group has been approved for emergency use, according to a statement from the company Wednesday to the Hong Kong stock exchange.
The mRNA vaccine, developed by CSPC Pharmaceutical Group has been approved for emergency use, according to a statement from the company Wednesday to the Hong Kong stock exchange.
Image: Bloomberg

China has approved its first messenger RNA vaccine for Covid-19, clearing a shot from a local drugs manufacturer that harnesses the powerful technology months after the world’s most populous nation abandoned pandemic curbs. 

The mRNA vaccine, developed by CSPC Pharmaceutical Group has been approved for emergency use, according to a statement from the company Wednesday to the Hong Kong stock exchange.

The step comes years after mRNA vaccines became commonplace across the rest of the world, and over three months after China became the last country to abandon strict Covid-19 measures, resulting in a huge infection wave that experts estimate caused at least hundreds of thousands of deaths.

Low immunisation rates for many high-risk people and the use of less effective shots made with traditional technology potentially made China’s wave deadlier. Not having an mRNA vaccine was long considered a major lacuna for Beijing.

The regulatory blessing for CSPC’s shot plugs that gap, while reinforcing the country’s reliance solely on home-grown vaccines to immunise its 1.4-billion population.

The Chinese government hasn’t approved the mRNA shot co-developed by BioNTech and Pfizer, despite of a slew of data and applications filed by local partner Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical Group. It instead depended on inactivated vaccines developed by local state-owned drugmaker Sinopharm and the private firm Sinovac Biotech for most of the pandemic.

More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com


subscribe Just R20 for the first month. Support independent journalism by subscribing to our digital news package.
Subscribe now

Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.

Speech Bubbles

Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.