Vaccine Photo: VCG

The second inactivated COVID-19 vaccine developed by the China National Biotec Group (CNBG) entered clinical trials on Tuesday. It is China's fourth approved COVID-19 vaccine to enter clinical trials. 

China National Biotec Group (CNBG) may be a good candidate to create the world's first COVID-19 vaccine, Chinese experts said, after a second inactivated COVID-19 vaccine developed by the group entered clinical trials on Tuesday. 

The vaccine is China's fourth approved COVID-19 vaccine to enter clinical trials.

The new inactivated COVID-19 vaccine was co-developed by a Beijing laboratory under the CNBG and the National Institute for Viral Disease Control and Prevention, the company announced on its official WeChat account. 

The vaccine began clinical trials in Central China's Henan Province on Tuesday on 32 volunteers after it was approved by authorities on Monday. 

It is notable that it is CNBG's second inactivated COVID-19 vaccine approved to enter clinical trials. Its first vaccine that the company developed in its Wuhan laboratory together with the Wuhan Institute of Virology under the Chinese Academy of Science entered second-phase clinical trials in Henan on Friday, after completing phase-one trials that involved 96 participants. 

CNBG delegated two teams to carry out the research and development (R&D) of COVID-19 vaccines so that a working vaccine could be found as soon as possible, said Yang Xiaoming, president of CNBG. 

Both teams have strong R&D abilities and rich experience from SARS vaccine development, Yang noted. 

China is leading the world in COVID-19 vaccine development, top Chinese respiratory specialist Zhong Nanshan said on Tuesday at a forum in Guangzhou, South China's Guangdong Province.

CNBG is a good candidate to create the world's first COVID-19 vaccine, experts reached by the Global Times said on Tuesday. They cited the company's and China's proven experience and technologies in developing, producing and promoting inactivated vaccines.

As the inactivated vaccines go through clinical trials, CNBG said it has set up the world's largest COVID-19 vaccine production plant in Beijing. 

Once a vaccine proves effective and is approved for mass production, the plant will be able to produce 100 million doses per year, and the vaccine will be qualified for large-scale emergency use and routine vaccinations.

China has approved four COVID-19 vaccine candidates to enter clinical trials thus far: CNBG's two inactivated vaccines, a recombinant vaccine from Chinese military infectious disease expert Chen Wei, and another inactivated COVID-19 vaccine from Beijing-based Sinovac Research and Development Co.

Chinese experts are trying five different technical methods in developing the vaccines, including the inactivated one, the recombinant one and nucleic acid vaccines.

Theoretically, CNBG will be faster to develop a successful vaccine as technologies for inactivated vaccines are already mature, while those of recombinant vaccines are still at the exploratory stage, a Beijing-based immunologist told the Global Times on Tuesday on condition of anonymity. 

There has not been any recombinant vaccine being put into mass use, a fact that will delay the development and marketing of the vaccine being developed by Chen's team, according to the immunologist.   

Yang Zhanqiu, a Wuhan-based virologist, told the Global Times that the effectiveness of inactivated vaccines is higher than the other four kinds, as such vaccines contain an entire inactivated virus while the other kinds only contain part of the virus.

Confident volunteers



Gu Yanling, a medical worker in Jiaozuo, Central China's Henan Province, is a volunteer for the Phase II trial of CNBG's first inactivated COVID-19 vaccine. She accepted injection on April 24.  

"As a medical worker, I feel responsible and obligated to do my bit to COVID-19 vaccine development. I'm proud that I can join the trial as a volunteer," Gu told the Global Times on Wednesday. 

She noted that she believed that the vaccine is safe and effective, accepting the injection would help her acquire immunity to COVID-19 in advance of the public. 

Four of Gu's relatives have also accepted injections and none of them feel any adverse reactions so far. "Many of my friends are also actively applying for being volunteers for the following trials," she said.  

According to Gu, volunteers are not required to be quarantined after being injected CNBG's vaccines and their daily life has not been affected at all. 

Related workers from CNBG would visit the volunteers, via phone or face visit, at regular intervals, checking their physical conditions, taking blood samples and learning their evaluation on vaccine efficacy.    

The volunteers are also asked to test and record their own temperature everyday and report to the CNBG workers when they visit.  

Wang Liqing, another volunteer in Jiaozuo, also experienced no adverse reaction after receiving low-dose vaccine injection on April 24. 

Wang told the Global Times that the volunteers have to get their blood draws for antibody test on Day 28 after the injection.