Indonesia's Food and Drug Administration (BPOM) grants emergency use approval for the COVID-19 vaccine of Walvax Biotechnology, September 30, 2022. /BPOM
Editor's note: Global health was one of the important topics at the just concluded G20 Leaders' Summit, as the world is still threatened by the COVID-19 pandemic. China has been calling on vaccine cooperation to make it accessible globally. CGTN visited a Chinese vaccine producer, whose product has been approved for emergency use in Indonesia.
A China-made mRNA COVID-19 vaccine has been approved for emergency use in Indonesia, a step the manufacturer regards as a prelude to cooperation with more countries, as a way to help cope with the lingering pandemic.
On September 30, the Indonesian Food and Drug Administration granted authorization for the vaccine, which will be used by individuals 18 years of age or above, as either a primary or booster dose.
"This approval means a lot to us. It has boosted our confidence in further technological innovation," said Huang Zhen, vice chairman of Walvax Biotechnology based in southwest China's Yunnan Province.
"We believe that we can also make our contributions to the global fight against the pandemic with our innovative products," he added.
Staff at Walvax Biotechnology conduct research on the mRNA COVID-19 vaccine, November 14, 2022 /CGTN
The company, founded in 2001, is one of the leading vaccine producers in China and spent almost three years developing the vaccine together with another two institutions and conducting clinical trials on some 21,000 people.
"During the process, we encountered some challenges, as the virus was mutating fast. But we also saw ideal results," said Huang.
The vaccine, known as AWcorna, is the first China-made COVID-19 vaccine based on the novel mRNA technology. Huang told CGTN that he is satisfied with its efficacy.
"For moderate cases, its effective protection rate can reach over 71 percent, meaning these people will be protected from hospitalization. It's much higher than the efficacy rate of 50 percent set by the World Health Organization," he said.
The company is working with its Indonesian partner Etana to mass produce the vaccine in a local newly-built factory. The public is expected to get the jabs before long.
Indonesian President Joko Widodo (C) and Chinese Ambassador to Indonesia Lu Kang (fourth from the right) attend the inauguration ceremony of the factory in Jakarta, Indonesia, October 7, 2022. /Chinese Embassy in Indonesia
On October 7, Chinese Ambassador to Indonesia Lu Kang attended the inauguration ceremony of the factory in Jakarta. He said the cooperation has shown Chinese enterprises' independent development capability on high-end products, as well as their responsibility in global pandemic prevention and control.
"I believe the move will bring tangible benefits to Indonesian people," said the ambassador.
Indonesian President Joko Widodo also hailed the cooperation.
"I do welcome PT Etana Biotechnologies Indonesia's efforts to produce vaccines with mRNA platform, and this is the first ever in Southeast Asia," the president said while addressing the ceremony.
Walvax takes this as an important step for its strategy to go global. In the long run, it plans to expand distribution to more Southeast Asian countries such as Thailand and Singapore, and even South America.
China has promised to make the Chinese-made COVID-19 vaccines available globally. During the G20 Summit held in Indonesia's Bali, Chinese President Xi Jinping called for closer cooperation in the fight against COVID-19.
Xi said all parties should "raise the accessibility and affordability of vaccines, medicines, and diagnostic and treatment methods in developing countries so as to create a sound environment for economic recovery."
Huang said Walvax is determined to play an active role in this regard by providing high-quality vaccines at affordable prices to the countries in need.
"COVID-19 is a public health incident. As a vaccine producer, our top priority is not to make more profits out of it, but to undertake our social responsibility to do as much as we can to help out people from both home and abroad," said Huang, who's been engaged in vaccine research and development for decades.
Apart from Walvax, some other Chinese companies are also researching COVID-19 vaccines based on mRNA technology. Earlier this year, another two manufacturers, CanSinoBIO and CSPC both announced that their products were already under clinical trial.
Walvax said it is now working to develop COVID-19 vaccines based on other novel technologies and is confident in early breakthroughs.
"I believe the China-made vaccines based on the five different technologies (inactivated vaccine, viral vector vaccine, recombinant protein vaccine, live attenuated influenza vaccine and nucleic acid vaccine) will all win the trust and be widely used globally in the near future," Huang said.