SHOTLIST
BEIJING, CHINASEPTEMBER 24, 2020SOURCE: AFPTV
1. Mid shot vaccines moving along production line in Sinovac Biotech factory 2. Close-up vaccines moving along production line in Sinovac Biotech factory 3. Wide shot vaccines moving along production line in Sinovac Biotech factory, workers standing by4. Pull focus workers looking at vaccines moving along production line in Sinovac Biotech factory 5. Mid shot worker picking out on vaccine and checking it in Sinovac Biotech factory 6. Mid shot vaccines moving along production line in Sinovac Biotech factory 7. Close-up boxes of vaccines moving along production line in Sinovac Biotech factory 8. Close-up box of vaccines rotating on production line in Sinovac Biotech factory 9. Mid shot stacked boxes of vaccines in Sinovac Biotech factory 10. Wide shot Sinovac Biotech CEO Yin Weidong speaking to media during a government organised tour of Sinovac
11. SOUNDBITE 1 – Yin Weidong, CEO, Sinovac Biotech (male, Chinese, 7 sec): “[responding to question about whether he can confirm that before the end of 2020 Sinovac can provide Brazil with 46 million CoronaVac vaccine doses] We are currently in the process of finalising the contract. We are working hard and will cooperate well with our partners. You can relax.”
12. Close-up CoronaVac vaccines from Sinovac Biotech on display
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China shows off Covid-19 vaccines for first time By Beiyi SEOW
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Beijing, Sept 7, 2020 (AFP) – China has put its homegrown coronavirus vaccines on display for the first time, as the country where the contagion was discovered looks to shape the narrative surrounding the pandemic.High hopes hang on the small vials of liquid on show at a Beijing trade fair this week — vaccine candidates produced by Chinese companies Sinovac Biotech and Sinopharm.Neither has hit the market yet but the makers hope they will be approved after all-important phase 3 trials as early as year-end.A Sinovac representative told AFP his firm has already “completed the construction of a vaccine factory” able to produce 300 million doses a year.On Monday, people at the trade fair crowded around booths showing the potential game-changing vaccines.China, which is facing a storm of foreign criticism over its early handling of the pandemic, has been trying to repurpose the story of Covid-19.State media and officials are now emphasising the revival of Wuhan, the central Chinese city where the deadly pathogen surfaced, as a success story in the fight against the virus.They are also touting progress on domestic vaccines as a sign of Chinese leadership and resilience in the face of an unprecedented health threat that has pummelled the global economy.In May, President Xi Jinping pledged to make any potential vaccine developed by China a “global public good”.The potential vaccines on display are among nearly 10 worldwide to enter phase 3 trials, typically the last step ahead of regulatory approval, as countries race to stub out the virus and reboot battered economies.Sinopharm said it anticipates the antibodies from its jab to last between one and three years — although the final result will only be known after the trials.China’s nationalistic tabloid Global Times reported last month that “the price of the vaccines will not be high”.Every two doses should cost below 1,000 yuan ($146), the report said, citing Sinopharm’s chairman, who told media he has already been injected with one of the candidate vaccines.China’s official Xinhua news agency reported Monday that another vaccine candidate, developed by Chinese military scientists, can deal with mutations in the coronavirus.As of last month, at least 5.7 billion doses of the vaccines under development around the world had been pre-ordered.But the World Health Organization has warned that widespread immunisation against Covid-19 may not be on the cards until the middle of next year.bys/apj/axn
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China says Covid-19 vaccine could be ready for public by NovemberBeijing, Sept 15, 2020 (AFP) – A China-developed coronavirus vaccine could be ready for the public as early as November, a Chinese official has told state television, as the global race to clear the final round of trials heats up.Chinese manufacturers have been bullish about development, with companies Sinovac Biotech and Sinopharm even putting their vaccine candidates on display at a trade fair in Beijing this month.Representatives of the firms told AFP that they hope their vaccines will be approved after phase 3 trials as early as year-end.And on late Monday, the chief biosafety expert at the Chinese Centre for Disease Control told state broadcaster CCTV that a vaccine would be available to the general public “around November or December.”Wu Guizhen did not specify which vaccine she was referring to, but said “based on the phase 3 clinical results, the current progress is very smooth.”Wu added that she had taken a vaccine in April and has felt good over the past few months, although she did not specify which candidate she had taken.There are currently nine vaccine candidates in late-stage human trials, although some have hit recent obstacles — pharma giant AstraZeneca and Oxford University momentarily paused clinical trials last week after a volunteer developed an unexplained illness.Some of China’s vaccine candidates have already been offered to essential workers under an emergency use programme.A Sinovac spokesman told AFP this month that “tens of thousands” of people had voluntarily taken its vaccine, including 90 percent of its employees and their families — between 2,000 and 3,000 people.In June, China’s military approved a vaccine for use within its ranks developed by its research unit and a biotech firm.bys/rox/rma
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Brazil could launch Chinese Covid-19 vaccine this year: governor
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Sao Paulo, Sept 9, 2020 (AFP) – Clinical trials in Brazil of a Chinese-made vaccine against Covid-19 have shown “extremely positive” results, and a widespread vaccination campaign could begin as early as December, the governor of Sao Paulo state said Wednesday.Sao Paulo, the epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic in hard-hit Brazil, is one of six states helping to test the so-called CoronaVac vaccine developed by Chinese pharmaceutical firm Sinovac Biotech.The vaccine produced an immune response in 98 percent of recipients over 60 years old, with no adverse side-effects reported so far, said Governor Joao Doria.”The results have been extremely positive,” he told a news conference.”We will soon be able to immunize Brazilians in Sao Paulo and across the country with the CoronaVac vaccine…. The projected delivery date is in December this year.”Sinovac has partnered with a Brazilian public health research center, the Butantan Institute, to conduct Phase 3 clinical trials of the vaccine — the last step before regulatory approval.The deal gives the institute the right to produce 120 million doses of the vaccine, according to officials.CoronaVac has gotten caught up in a political battle in Brazil, however.President Jair Bolsonaro, whose administration has tense relations with China, has criticized the vaccine, and lashed out at Doria, a leading opponent, for supposedly backing it.The far-right president has instead allocated 1.9 billion reals ($360 million) to purchase another vaccine candidate, developed by Oxford University and pharmaceutical firm AstraZeneca.Trials of that vaccine, which is also being tested partly in Brazil, were suspended Tuesday after a volunteer recipient developed an unexplained illness — a move the company described as “routine.”Brazil has the second-highest death toll in the pandemic after the United States, with more than 127,000 people killed and 4.1 million infections.The South American country has emerged as a leading testing ground for vaccines.In the latest development, Brazilian medical diagnostics company Dasa and US vaccine-maker COVAXX announced a deal Wednesday to conduct Phase 2 and 3 trials of the latter’s Covid-19 vaccine in Brazil.COVAXX, a subsidiary of US firm United Biomedical, plans to test the vaccine on at least 3,000 volunteers in Brazil.jhb/st
