17-10-2020
CoronaVaccine

A city in eastern China is offering an experimental coronavirus disease (Covid-19) vaccine outside of clinical trials for around $60 to high-risk groups under an emergency inoculation programme, officials said, even as experts raised concerns over the mass rollout for an as-yet unproven vaccine.

The Beijing-based Sinovac Biotech’s vaccine called CoronaVac is being offered in the city of Jiaxing to care givers, especially epidemic-prevention workers, public service personnel and port inspectors, and will eventually be offered to regular citizens, the state media reported on Friday, quoting officials.

“The vaccine, developed by Chinese company Sinovac Biotech, will be provided to people aged between 18 and 59 at a price of 400 yuan ($59.5) for two shots,” the Jiaxing Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said, adding that the vaccine hasn’t been “officially approved for marketing” and is only approved for “urgent needs”.

However, the Jiaxing CDC did not specify what constituted as “urgent needs”.

Authorities also did not say how many people in the city will be given the vaccine, which comes in two doses at an interval of 14-28 days.

The Sinovac vaccine is in late stage trials in Brazil, Indonesia and Turkey, and the company has said that an interim analysis of phase 3 trial data could come as early as November, news agency Reuters reported.