Chinese Overseas Students to Take Precedence for Sinopharm's Covid-19 Jab
Zhang Yushuo
DATE:  Oct 13 2020
/ SOURCE:  Yicai
Chinese Overseas Students to Take Precedence for Sinopharm's Covid-19 Jab Chinese Overseas Students to Take Precedence for Sinopharm's Covid-19 Jab

(Yicai Global) Oct. 13 -- Chinese students who are planning to study overseas will be given priority access to China National Pharmaceutical Group's Covid-19 vaccine when it becomes available after more than 90,000 people already signed up, according to an insider.

Better known as Sinopharm, the company has started accepting bookings for a shot from people in Beijing and Wuhan, the Paper reported, citing a WeChat post of a person close to the Beijing-based company. Students who are planning to go abroad between next month and January will be the first in line, the source added.

Sinopharm's WeChat mini-program shows that more than 469,500 people would like to get vaccinated while the booking system is taking no more applicants at the moment. Those who have successfully registered should receive an invitation in two weeks to attend an appointment, the insider said.

Sinopharm has not yet responded to the media report. Its website does not have a link to the mini-program.

Among China's three inactivated experimental Covid-19 vaccines approved for clinical trials, two were developed by Sinopharm, Science and Technology Daily reported on Sept. 10, citing Zhou Song, corporate counsel for the firm's unit China National Biotec Group.

Sinopharm's first Covid-19 vaccine should be ready for sale by December as clinical trials are moving along faster than expected, Chairman Liu Jingzhen said late last month.

Hundreds of thousands of people have received one of Sinopharm's vaccine candidates without major problems, Zhou added. The costs should also not be a issue. Two 4-microgram doses should cost no more than CNY1,000 (USD148), Guangming Daily reported in mid-August, citing Liu.

Editor: Emmi Laine

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Keywords:   Covid-19,vaccine,Wuhan,Sinopharm,China's First Covid-19 Vaccine,China National Pharmaceutical Group,WeChat,Medicine,China,Students