China's COVID-19 vaccine may be ready for public in November

Coronavirus vaccines developed in China may be ready for use by the general public as early as November, an official with the Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Report says, citing TASS.

China has four Covid-19 vaccines in the final stage of clinical trials. At least three of those have already been offered to essential workers under an emergency use program launched in July.

Phase 3 clinical trials were proceeding smoothly. The vaccines could be ready for the general public in November or December, CDC chief biosafety expert Guizhen Wu said in an interview with state TV late on Monday (September 14).

Wu, who said she had experienced no abnormal symptoms in recent months after taking an experimental vaccine herself in April, did not specify the details.

A state pharmaceutical giant China National Pharmaceutical Group (Sinopharm), and U.S.-listed Sinovac Biotech are developing the three vaccines under the state's emergency use program. A fourth COVID-19 vaccine being developed by CanSino Biologics was approved for use by the Chinese military.

Sinopharm said in July that its vaccine could be ready for public use by the end of this year after the conclusion of Phase 3 trials.

On December 31, 2019, Chinese authorities announced an outbreak of pneumonia in China's Wuhan, and the causative agent is a new type of coronavirus officially named COVID-19.

On March 11, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared a new coronavirus outbreak a pandemic.