China Gets Its First mRNA Covid Vaccine Approval — in Indonesia

The mRNA vaccine has been cleared for people 18 and over. Indonesia has approved seven other Covid vaccines, including two made by Chinese companies, as well as BioNTech-Pfizer, Astra Zeneca, Moderna and Johnson Johnson. Nearly 73 percent of the population has received at least two shots, according to Indonesia’s health ministry.

China’s 1.4 billion people are now one step closer to having access to an mRNA vaccine. While Beijing said early last year that it would approve the mRNA shot made by BioNTech and Pfizer, it later said it would focus on its own vaccines.

“At present, China has fully mastered the key core technologies of mRNA vaccines,” Li Yunchun, chairman of Walvax, was quoted as saying in Chinese state media. He said that China now had control of the entire supply chain of raw materials to produce the vaccine, which is known as AWcorna.

By approving AWcorna, Indonesia was adding another alternative to the country’s vaccine program, said Penny K. Lukito, the head of the country’s food and drug agency. The vaccine, which will be made in Indonesia, would also present “an opportunity for Indonesia to produce its own mRNA vaccine,” Ms. Lukito said.

The agency also said that the vaccine was halal-certified, an important factor for the world’s most populous Muslim-majority country.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/30/business/china-mrna-covid-vaccine-indonesia.html