China warned to accelerate approval of updated jabs to tackle Covid ‘tsunami’
Experts have warned Beijing to speed up the approval process for updated vaccines to combat new coronavirus variants as the disease sweeps across China after authorities eased heavy-handed pandemic controls.
The majority of the Chinese population has been vaccinated with the inactivated Sinovac and Sinopharm jabs, which were designed to target the original virus strain identified in Wuhan in 2020.
“We can’t rely on old vaccines which are currently being used nationwide going forward,” said a Beijing-based adviser to the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
Beijing has expanded the choice of vaccines available to the population. In September, it approved the world’s first inhaled Covid-19 vaccine from Tianjin-based CanSino Biologics, which is based on the original virus strain.
This story originally appeared on: Financial Times - Author:Eleanor Olcott
