[Commentary] On September 25, the State Information Office held a briefing to introduce the progress of the new coronavirus vaccine work.
At the meeting, Wu Yuanbin, director of the Department of Science and Technology for Social Development of the Ministry of Science and Technology, introduced that vaccines are the most powerful technical means for the prevention and control of infectious diseases. The scientific research team has always put vaccine research and development as the top priority, and has deployed inactivated vaccines, recombinant protein vaccines, and Five technical routes of adenovirus vector vaccine, attenuated influenza virus vector vaccine and nucleic acid vaccine are being tackled in parallel.
[Concurrent] Wu Yuanbin, Director of the Department of Social Development and Science, Ministry of Science and Technology
At present, my country's new crown vaccine research and development work is generally in a leading position.
Each technical route has vaccines entering clinical trials. At present, 11 vaccines have entered clinical trials, 4 vaccines have entered phase III clinical trials, and 3 of the 4 vaccines in phase III clinical trials are inactivated vaccines. One is an adenovirus vector vaccine.
Recombinant protein vaccines, nucleic acid vaccines, and attenuated influenza virus vector vaccines are undertaking phase I and II clinical trials.
[Explanation] Regarding the effectiveness of these vaccines, Zeng Guang, the chief epidemiologist of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said that vaccine effectiveness means that if the vaccine can protect the vaccinated from infection, the vaccine can be considered effective.
In the phase I and II clinical trials, the effectiveness of the vaccine is preliminarily judged by measuring the immunogenicity of subjects.
[Concurrent] Zeng Guang, Chief Scientist of Epidemiology, China Center for Disease Control and Prevention
A number of new crown vaccines currently under development in my country have initially obtained data from animal experiments, phase I and phase II clinical trials, and some have entered phase III clinical trials, and some of them have been approved for emergency applications. The progress is smooth, and the data and results obtained at various stages initially confirmed the safety and effectiveness of the vaccine.
[Explanation] So, is the new crown vaccine being developed in China likely to cause some adverse reactions, such as ADE (antibody-dependent infection enhancement effect)?
Wang Junzhi, deputy head of the expert team of the research team's vaccine research and development team, pointed out that the new crown vaccine is a brand-new vaccine. In clinical trials, the research team uses adverse reaction monitoring as an important indicator of safety evaluation.
[Concurrent] Wang Junzhi, Deputy Leader of the Vaccine R&D Special Team, Academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering
Based on the results of the phase I and II clinical trials we have completed so far, according to this data, the (vaccine) currently entering clinical studies and completing clinical results in our country are basically mild adverse reactions and acceptable adverse reactions .
You mentioned the ADE phenomenon just now. ADE refers to the increase in infection due to the complexity of the antibodies produced after vaccination.
So we do the same. We regard the monitoring and evaluation of ADE as preclinical, starting with preclinical animal experiments, as well as the focus of clinical research. From the data of the research we have completed so far, we have not found any vaccine-related ADE.
[Explanation] Since the outbreak of the new crown pneumonia, the mutation of the new crown virus has been widely concerned.
In this regard, Zhang Xinmin, director of the Biological Center of the Ministry of Science and Technology, said that the mutation of the new coronavirus did not have a substantial impact on vaccine development.
[Concurrent] Zhang Xinmin, Director of the Vaccine R&D Emergency Project Management Agency, Director of the Biological Center of the Ministry of Science
At present, the antigen design of vaccine research and development at home and abroad is mainly carried out for the S protein of the new coronavirus. Internationally, through the analysis of tens of thousands of new coronavirus genes, it has been found that the sequence of the new coronavirus S protein is relatively stable.
Experiments have shown that the immune response induced by the vaccine under development can effectively neutralize the mutated new coronavirus.
Scientists in my country used the serum of subjects in the Phase II clinical trial of the new crown vaccine to test different strains of the new crown virus and found that they still have a protective effect.
[Explanation] So, what will the production capacity of the new crown vaccine be?
How to price it?
The relevant person in charge of the National Health Commission also introduced this.
[Concurrent] Zheng Zhongwei, Head of the Vaccine R&D Team of the Scientific Research Group, Director of the Medical Science and Technology Development Center of the National Health Commission
According to current estimates, by the end of this year (2020), we expect our annual production capacity of vaccines to reach 610 million doses.
Everyone is very concerned about the price of the vaccine. With the public product attributes of the new crown vaccine, this is our basic follow.
So I think the price of the new crown vaccine in China must be within the range acceptable to the public.
Reporter Wen Mengxin reports from Beijing
Editor in charge: [Liu Xian]