SHANGHAI (Reuters) – Chinese regulators have completed an expert review of a COVID-19 mRNA vaccine developed by Germany’s BioNTech and Fosun Pharma and the shot is in the administration review stage, Caixin reported, citing the Chinese company.
China hasn’t approved any COVID-19 vaccine developed overseas but greenlighted several domestic brands, administering 1.4 billion doses so far, or two-fifths of the global total of 3.47 billion doses.
BioNTech Chief Executive Ugur Sahin said in April he expected its COVID-19 vaccine would win approval from the Chinese authorities “by June at the latest.”
BioNTech and Fosun did not immediately reply to Reuters’ requests for comment.
The vaccine is on track to begin trial production in China at the end of August, Caixin cited Fosun Pharma chairman Wu Yifang as saying at a shareholders’ meeting on Wednesday.
It said the vaccine would be used as a booster shot for people who have received vaccines using inactivated viruses.
These are vaccines that use a coronavirus that cannot replicate in human cells and include Sinovac’s COVID-19 shot.
(Reporting by David Stanway; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)
