(Yicai) Dec. 4 -- Five Chinese vaccine makers said their newly developed Covid-19 jabs, mainly used against the XBB Omicron subvariant, were approved for emergency use in China with the arrival of the peak infectious diseases season.

The recombinant vaccines of Livzon Pharmaceutical Group and CanSino Biologics received emergency use authorization, the pair said separately yesterday. CSPC Innovation Pharmaceutical, Walvax Biotechnology, and Sinocelltech Group also received approvals for their Covid-19 jabs, they said on Dec. 1.

China reported 7,646 Covid-19 cases caused by Omicron variants in October, with all cases in the last week of the month related to XBB and its subvariants, according to the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

Livzon's SARS-CoV-2 fusion protein jab shows efficacy against many prevalent variants, including EG.5.1, XBB.1.9.1, XBB.1.16, and XBB.1.5, the Zhuhai-based firm noted. CanSino's nasal spray vaccine will provide better protection for people, it pointed out.

CSPC Innovation's mRNA shot is used against mainstream variants such as XBB.1.5, Walvax got approval for its monovalent vaccine, while Sinocelltech made its new jab by replacing the early variants Alpha and Delta with the S trimeric protein antigens of the BQ.1.1 and XBB.1 variants, according to the firms.

Chengdu-based WestVac BioPharma's recombinant trivalent Covid-19 XBB variant trimeric protein vaccine was previously also launched in many parts of China.

Shares of Livzon [SHE: 000513] closed 2.2 percent down at CNY34.04 (USD4.78) in Shenzhen today. CanSino [SHA: 688185] fell 0.9 percent to CNY83.09 in Shanghai. CSPC Innovation [SHE: 300765] dropped 3.2 percent to CNY42.65, Walvax [SHE: 300142] fell 1.9 percent to CNY24.31, and Sinocelltech [SHA: 688520] slipped 4.3 percent to end at CNY49.53.

Editor: Martin Kadiev