China has allowed emergency use of some selective experimental COVID-19 vaccines that have been developed by its domestic companies.
According to Chinese vaccine management law, unapproved vaccine candidates can be authorized for emergency use among people who are at high risk of getting infected on a limited period.
Experimental vaccines that are still in the phase of clinical trials can be used among frontline workers like medical and epidemic prevention personnel, border officers and other people working in stable city operations in order to curb serious diseases.
“We’ve drawn up a series of plan packages, including medical consent forms, side-effects monitoring plans, rescuing plans, compensation plans, to make sure that the emergency use is well regulated and monitored,” CCTV quoted Zheng Zhongwei, head of China’s coronavirus vaccine development task force as saying.
He also said that China has authorized the emergency use of its experimental COVID-19 vaccines on July 22, when its clinical trials were still underway.
Recipients who got their first dose since then revealed they had few adverse reactions and none reported a fever.
Zheng noted that for the next step of preventing a possible outbreak this autumn and winter, vaccines’ availability will be extended to people working in food markets, transport systems and services industries in China.
Meanwhile, the Chinese mainland reported 16 new imported COVID-19 cases on Sunday, bringing the total number of imported cases to 2,418, according to the National Health Commission.
Among the imported cases, five were reported in Shanghai, three each in Fujian, Sichuan and Yunnan, and one each in Shanxi and Shandong, the commission said in its daily report.