Sinovac Biotech vaccine candidate to reach 1b production capacity in February

Sinovac Biotech's annual production capacity for its COVID-19 vaccine candidate, CoronaVac, is set to reach 1 billion doses this February, Yin Weidong, the company's founder and chairman of the board, said in a news briefing on Wednesday.

The first phase vaccine manufacturing lines have been completed, which are capable of making 500 million doses per year, he said. Now the second phase production lines, which add another 500 million doses production capacity, are being tested and are set to enter production in February.

The vaccine candidate has been approved for production in China, Brazil, Turkey, Singapore and Chile in accordance with Good Manufacturing Practice standards, Yin said. The vaccine also is undergoing phase-3 clinical trials in Brazil, Turkey, Indonesia and Chile, with about 24,400 volunteers in total enrolled in the studies.

Based on available data, the trial in Turkey showed the vaccine had an efficacy rate of 91.2 percent against COVID-19, while the one in Indonesia had a rate of 65 percent, Yin said.

As for the trial in Brazil, the vaccine was found to be 100 percent effective against severe infections, 78 percent in preventing mild cases of COVID-19, and 50.4 percent effective for protecting high-risk medical personnel, he said.

"These phase three clinical results have proved that CoronaVac is generally safe and effective in numerous settings around the world," Yin said.

As of Jan 10, more than 7 million doses have been supplied to various provinces and cities across China.

"We have seen positive results in terms of the vaccine's safety profile, we are also keeping track and studying its efficacy as well," Yin said.

Meanwhile, Sinovac Biotech will deliver 1 million doses of its inactivated COVID-19 vaccine candidate CoronaVac on schedule to Hong Kong, Yin said.