China’s Sinovac to begin clinical vaccine trials on children by month’s end

Beijing, Sep 17 (efe-epa).- Chinese pharmaceutical Sinovac Biotech said Thursday it would start clinical trials for its potential Covid-19 vaccine on adolescents and children at the end of the month after testing on adults yielded positive findings, company sources told Efe.

Sinovac said the latest round of testing for its vaccine, CoronaVac, will begin on 28 September.

On 9 September, the biopharmaceutical firm said phase I/II clinical trials on healthy adults over 60 and earlier studies in the 18-59 age group had shown “good safety and immunogenicity”.

The level of antibodies detected in test subjects over 60 was slightly lower than that detected in younger groups, the company said.

One of the main objectives for the company is to ensure the vaccine is safe for the entire population, including young children and adolescents, who are exposed to outbreaks of Covid-19 in schools.

The next phase of the CoronaVac study will see 552 healthy people between three and 17 receive two doses of the immunization and a placebo, combining phase I and II research, according to the United States National Library of Medicine.

Testing will begin in the northeast Chinese province of Hebei, which surrounds Beijing.

CoronaVac is also in its final stages of large-scale testing in countries like Brazil, Indonesia and Turkey.

The governor of Sao Paulo state Joao Doria said on Monday authorities planned to immunize all of Brazil’s population with the Chinese vaccine and then distribute it across Latin America.

The drug is currently being produced in Sao Paulo in collaboration with local company Butantan.