Foreign news
COVID-19 Vaccine Latest: China’s latest COVID-19 phase III vaccine approved for clinical trials in Peru
A ceremony has taken place in Beijing Thursday to launch phase three clinical trials for a COVID-19 vaccine in Peru. Peru’s national health authorities have approved the trials, the latest in China’s efforts to strengthen international cooperation in pandemic control. China’s Biotec Group is carrying out the research with experts from some of Peru’s leading universities. For more, CGTN’s Liu Yang speaks to the chairman of China’s National Pharmaceutical Group.
LIU YANG Beijing “In June, Sinopharm’s CNBG launched international phase three clinical trials in the UAE. Why Peru this time, and what’s so significant about this partnership?”
LIU JINGZHEN Chairman, China National Pharmaceutical Group “Epidemic prevention and control in China has made strategic achievements. Under these circumstances, it’s impossible to do phase three clinical trials in China. We launched the promotion of international clinical trials in April. Take me for example. I had more than two hundred meetings with health ministers, science and technology ministers, interior ministers, foreign ministers, and ambassadors to China from more than forty countries. Brazil, Argentina and Peru are among the top few in the world in terms of coronavirus outbreaks. So we’re making key breakthroughs in South America, and we’re currently negotiating with Brazil to enhance cooperation. In Peru, we’re working with the University of Cayetano Heredia and the National University of San Marcos, specifically to cooperate comprehensively on the clinical phase three trials. They’re two of the top universities in Peru, and their experts have been very professional across the board.”
LIU YANG Beijing “What’s the current progress on the trials in the UAE?”
LIU JINGZHEN Chairman, China National Pharmaceutical Group “With the strong support of UAE government departments and our partner G 42 Group, we’re fully promoting cooperation. The effects have been very good. We’re the world’s most successful and fastest project in terms of entering phase three clinical trials. The second round of injections has now begun in the UAE.”
LIU YANG Beijing “Are there any plans in the pipeline to cooperate with other countries on the third phase of clinical trials for a vaccine?”
LIU JINGZHEN Chairman, China National Pharmaceutical Group “We’ve spoken to more than forty countries and regions including Brazil, the Philippines and many other countries, but the progress has been relatively slow. However, we are now in phase three in terms of the experiments so far, and the layout of phase three is completely sufficient. Our next step is to focus on vaccine procurement and cooperative supply.”
LIU YANG Beijing “After the clinical phase three trials, what needs to be done before the vaccine can enter the market, both in China and the rest of the world?”
LIU JINGZHEN Chairman, China National Pharmaceutical Group “The phase three clinical trials haven’t been completed, and the vaccine has not officially been approved and marketed as of now. But as a commodity, in the case of an emergency, foreign governments can purchase vaccines from us. There’s no obstacle to such purchases. We’ll supply the vaccine to whoever buys it. This is in compliance with the law.”
LIU YANG Beijing “If the vaccine is expected to be on the market at the end of December, when do you plan to start mass production?”
LIU JINGZHEN Chairman, China National Pharmaceutical Group “Vaccines are to be used for prevention by healthy people. It must be accessible to the general public. According to President Xi Jinping’s speech at the World Health Assembly, China’s vaccines will be used as global public goods after research and development is successful. We have two research and production facilities in Beijing and Wuhan, which can ensure the supply of 200-million vaccines a year. According to our clinical experiments, taking two injections can achieve the best effect. The best interval between the two injections is 28-days. This can ensure overall effectiveness, approved by experimental data.”
Foreign news
EU Cautiously optimistic on Syria engagement – Official
Irish foreign minister Simon Harris said on Monday that the European Union (EU) “is cautiously optimistic on Syria engagement” but called for more deeper engagement to strengthen relations with the country.
Harris said this at a news conference held at the EU Headquarters in Brussels, the Belgian capital.
“It’s early days, but I think there are signs of optimism. But it is important that we continue to engage.
“I don’t think it would be a good scenario if any other geopolitical actors and forces engage with Syria and for the European Union not to be in a position to intensively engage with them,“ he said.
In her remarks, Ms. Kaja Kallas, the Vice-President of the EU described Syria’s future as fragile but said that the bloc needed to take the right steps.
“But of course, we need to see the right steps as well. Right now, they’re saying all the right words, and they are doing also the right things.
“Therefore, we have this set step-for-step approach, and if they take the steps, then we are willing to take the steps as well,’’ she said.
On the war in Gaza, Harris said President Donald Trump and his team are very much a party to the ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas after the intensive work that was put in.
He conceded that the Trump administration put in a lot of effort to arrive at a ceasefire agreement in the days before his assumption of office for a return to the White House.
“I think that was important and there is no doubt that the intensive work invested by the Trump administration played a very significant role in helping to bring about a ceasefire – a ceasefire that has now seen a cessation of hostilities, the killing, and the bombings.
“Also, that has seen the flow and has seen hostages being released. It’s really important that the ceasefire is in place.
“It is also important, though, to acknowledge in that ceasefire agreement itself, it does talk about people being able to return, and therefore, I think it’s important that we’re consistent in the approach that we take.
“The priority, I think, needs to be on implementing to the letter, the ceasefire agreement.”
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