China has been offering experimental COVID-19 vaccines to people, adding government employees, foreign academics and a must-have staff that has been traveling since July.
The president of Sinopharm told the media this week that nearly one million more people had won their vaccine for emergency use, did not provide an exact figure.
“We have won a singles report of a serious adverse reaction, and only a few had mild symptoms,” Liu Jingzhen said in an interview published Wednesday through the state-owned enterprise.
China has been positive about the progression of its vaccine against the new virus, which gave the impression that last year it was defeated in the center of the country, with 4 vaccines under test lately.
Many trials are being conducted abroad, as China has largely controlled the virus within its borders.
Sinopharm tests two vaccines in complex trials in countries such as the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Peru and Argentina.
The company this week claimed to be “a world leader in all aspects” of vaccine development, has not provided clinical evidence of ongoing trials.
Instead, he cited anecdotal reports of those who were vaccinated, adding “construction personnel, diplomats and foreign students” who, he said, visited more than 150 countries after vaccination without them fitting infected.
President Xi Jinping said any Chinese vaccine would be a “global public good” after the country criticized, especially across the United States, its early control of the epidemic.
Many of those who have been vaccinated in China are not officially involved in drug manufacturer trials and would have done the same voluntarily.