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| People line up to get a throat swab test at a temporary COVID-19 testing center as the coronavirus disease continues in Beijing, China, Jan 26, 2022. (File photo by=REUTERS/Thomas Peter) |
[Asia News = Reporter Reakkana] BEIJING: China has spent over a year developing Pfizer-type COVID-19 vaccines that may even help it pivot from stringent "zero-COVID" restrictions, but a changing market and the Omicron variant have muddied prospects before efficacy data has even been published, Reuters reported.
Still, China is unlikely to join the majority of countries in approving foreign-made vaccines based on messenger RNA (mRNA) technology before making its own, experts said, though a slowing vaccination drive at home and in some other nations and improved supply of approved vaccines have raised questions of viability. About 87 percent of China's 1.4 billion people are fully vaccinated and nearly 40 percent have received boosters, all non-mRNA shots. The efficacy of the vaccination regime against Omicron is unclear. Pre-Omicron human trials showed mRNA shots from US-German duo Pfizer and BioNTech SE as well as US biotech Moderna better prevented symptomatic cases than the most-used non-mRNA Chinese shots - though studies indicate the pair need boosters to strengthen Omicron defenses.
China hasn’t approved the use of those or any other foreign vaccine, instead of relying on home-grown vaccines. Experts said success in its own mRNA technology will not just broaden its domestic COVID-19 vaccine portfolio, it will also open up development for more innovative vaccines.
