(Yicai Global) Dec. 23 -- Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical Group, which is the exclusive China distributor of German firm BioNTech’s mRNA Covid-19 vaccine, will administer the jab to Germans living in China, the Chinese drugmaker said yesterday.

About 11,500 Comirnaty Covid-19 vaccines arrived in Beijing on Dec. 21, Fosun Pharma said. Vaccinations will be available in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou in southern Guangdong province, Shenyang in northeastern Liaoning province and Chengdu in southwestern Sichuan province for German people living in China.

“We are delighted to link arms with Mainz-based BioNTech to provide these jabs to German residents in China,” said Li Shengli, executive president and chief growth officer of Fosun Pharma. “We have been working closely with BioNTech since the outbreak of the pandemic, to promote clinical trials and achieve registration of the Comirnaty mRNA vaccine in China.

The Comirnaty vaccine, which is also known as the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 jab as BioNTech later collaborated with US pharma giant Pfizer on clinical trials and manufacturing, has not yet been approved to go to market on the Chinese mainland.

Fosun Pharma won the exclusive China rights to develop and commercialize BioNTech’s mRNA vaccines in March 2020.

Earlier this month Fosun was given the greenlight by the Hong Kong government to take the Comirnaty Covid-19 vaccine BNT162b2 and the Omicron BA.4-5-adapted bivalent jab to market. The former is a basic immunization shot and the latter is a booster shot. Both are for people aged 12 and above.

Editor: Kim Taylor