Covid-19: China approves its first messenger RNA vaccine

It’s never too late. China has given the green light to the use of China’s first messenger RNA-based COVID-19 vaccine, its manufacturer said on Wednesday as foreign vaccines are still not allowed in the country.

The Asian giant endured a spike in cases in December-January after the abrupt lifting of the stringent lockdowns, quarantines and travel restrictions that had been in place until then. The vaccine, developed by pharmaceutical group CSPC, has been approved for “emergency use” by the Beijing Health Regulatory Authority, the company said in a statement.

Booster dose

It proved to be very effective in a trial that used it as a booster dose for people who had already received other types of vaccines, she added without further details. Messenger RNA vaccines are generally considered to be among the most effective in reducing severe disease and mortality from coronavirus.

Conventional vaccines seek to accustom the body to the virus by injecting it directly into the body in an attenuated or inactivated form. Those with messenger RNA, which emerged during the Covid-19 crisis, work differently.

Foreign vaccines banned

They focus on a small part of the virus — in the case of SARS-CoV-2, the so-called “spike” protein — and aim to introduce strands of genetic instructions called messenger RNA into the body, instructing the body to make that protein. Harmless on its own, this “splash” of coronavirus is then detected by the immune system, which produces antibodies.

China has not yet authorized any foreign vaccines in the country, including vaccines from Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna that use messenger RNA technology.