COVID Vaccine To Be Commercially Available By December-End, Claims Chinese Company

Beijing: SinoPharm, a state-owned Chinese pharmaceutical company, has claimed that its coronavirus vaccine will be commercially available by the end of the year at a price of less than Rs 10,000 for two doses.

SinoPharm chairman Liu Jingzhen told a Chinese Communist Party newspaper that the vaccine would be administered in two shots, 28 days apart.

As the coronavirus pandemic rages across the globe, scientists and medical researchers are working overtime to produce a vaccine to prevent the dreaded disease. There are plenty of vaccine candidates in different stages of trials in different countries, of which around 30 are in the crucial human trial stage.

Liu was quoted as saying by Russian news agency TASS that one dose of the vaccine will provide 97% immunity against the novel coronavirus, while two doses will ensure 100% immunity.

SinoPharm, which has two vaccines in trial, has an annual manufacturing capacity of 220 million doses, Liu said.