Chinese Key Workers Given Experimental Coronavirus Vaccines Since July

Head of National Health Commission says the government had authorised ‘emergency use’ of treatment for staff in high-risk jobs.

Zheng Zhongei, the head of the National Health Commission’s science and technology centre, told state media organisation CCTV on Sunday the government had authorised “emergency use” of a Sars-Cov-2 type vaccine for workers, including health workers and border officials.

The country has gone a week without reporting any locally transmitted cases, border workers are considered to be in a high-risk category, said Zheng, who leads the vaccination development task force. This is the first confirmation of a vaccine used by China outside clinical trials.

Chinese scientists are already at the forefront of research work on at least eight other potential coronavirus vaccines that have entered different stages of clinical trials. Foreign companies, including Germany’s BioNTech and Inovio Pharma in the United States, have also cooperated with local firms to test their experimental vaccines on Chinese volunteers.