Various Approaches Adopted in Vaccine Development for COVID-19: Official

BEIJING, Feb. 15 (Xinhua) — China has adopted multiple technological approaches to fast-track the development of a vaccine for the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), according to an official Saturday.

To speed up the development of a vaccine and increase the success rate, China is developing multiple candidate vaccines at the same time, including an inactivated vaccine, mRNA vaccine, DNA vaccine, recombinant protein vaccine and virus vector vaccine, said Zhang Xinmin, director of the China National Center for Biotechnology Development under the Ministry of Science and Technology, at a press conference.

Some candidate vaccines have started animal testing, Zhang said.

China actively advocates international cooperation in vaccine development, Zhang said, adding that the vaccine development in China is at a similar stage to international efforts.

Zhang also noted that safety of the vaccine should be a top priority.

The development of vaccines follows strict procedures and it will take a certain period of time for researchers to develop safe and effective vaccines, Zhang said.

Yan Jinghua, a researcher from the Institute of Microbiology under the Chinese Academy of Sciences said at the press conference that they have designed a recombinant protein vaccine and have tested it on animals.

Yan said his team has conducted research on the development of a vaccine for MERS in the past few years, and applied similar strategies and methods in the design of a vaccine for COVID-19.

"Now we have tested it on animals to see the immune effect and carried out safety evaluation. We are also working on the development of the vaccine production process," Yan said.

(Source: Xinhua)