Sinovac Says Coronavirus Vaccine Will Be Ready By Early 2021

Reporter Ron Chang ㅣ 2020-09-25 17:35

Sinovac's COVID-19 vaccine candidate, CoronaVac, are displayed at the China-based biopharmaceutical company's headquarters during a government-organized media event in Beijing on Sept. 24, 2020.

The head of Sinovac, a Chinese pharmaceutical firm, says a coronavirus vaccine it is developing should be ready for worldwide distribution by early 2021.

CEO Yin Weidong vowed on Thursday to apply to America's Food and Drug Administration to sell CoronaVac in the United States if it passes its third and final round of testing in humans.

Stringent regulations in the U.S., the European Union, Japan and Australia have historically blocked the sale of Chinese vaccines.

But Yin said that could change as his company is developing one of China's top four vaccine candidates.

More than 24,000 people are participating in the clinical trials of CoronaVac in Brazil, Turkey, and Indonesia, with additional trials scheduled for Bangladesh and possibly Chile.

Sinovac said it chose those countries because they all had serious outbreaks, large populations and limited research and development capacity.