BEIJING, China Sep 16 – Wu Guizhen, the chief biosecurity expert from China’s Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), said on Monday that ordinary Chinese residents could start receiving COVID-19 vaccines as early as November, adding that the current Phase III clinical trials have been going smoothly.
China has been leading the world in research and development of a vaccine against COVID-19. Nine vaccines have entered Phase III of clinical trials around the world, and five of them are being developed by China, according to Wu.
Wu said that the novel coronavirus is a high-risk virus and needs to be produced in a negative pressure environment. Experts from the health commission departments are now intensively reviewing production workshops. Two have passed examination and approval, and a third is being evaluated.
More than 30 novel coronavirus vaccines worldwide have entered the clinical trial stage, nine of which have entered the Phase III clinical trial stage.
Meanwhile, an article by President Xi Jinping on building a solid public health system for protecting people’s life will be published Wednesday on the Qiushi Journal, a flagship magazine of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee.
Stressing public health as the foundation of national security, Xi in the article called for cadres to build a solid and sound public health system by comprehensively improving the country’s risk prevention and rescuing ability so as to provide strong guarantee for people’s health.
The article suggested enhancement of the early detection and warning ability as a priority, and urged relevant departments to improve their monitoring system on public health emergencies and epidemic outbreaks.
It highlighted education and professional trainings for medical staff in order to step up treatment and reaction capability when faced with major epidemic outbreaks.
From a macro prospective, the article pointed out the construction of medical infrastructures such as medical centers and optimization of the mobilization of medical resources are two important aspects.
A lot of experience in epidemic prevention and control has been gained thanks to the fight against the COVID-19, the article said, adding public health, as an overall and long-term issue, should be integrated and considered in all policymaking process.
–CGTN
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