When it comes to science, deep technology, and the advancement of human civilization — China has ambitions not just to compete, but to lead. Don’t miss a beat in China’s steady progress in all things science, health, medicine, and deep technology.
Sinopharm’s COVID-19 vaccine is the first Chinese-made shot to ever be approved for emergency use by the World Health Organization. The step affirms China’s growing scientific power, but is expected to have limited impact on vaccine supply in the short term.
The first of 11 launches to construct the Chinese Space Station went ahead without a hitch today. If all goes according to plan, the CSS will be fully operational by the end of 2022.
Gao Fu, the director of China’s CDC, suggested mixing vaccines, adding doses, and looking into mRNA technology to improve the efficacy of COVID-19 shots. He later insisted that he wasn’t “admitting” to a low effectiveness of Chinese vaccines.
With five approved COVID-19 vaccines, China aims to give shots to 40% of its population in the next four months, while also delivering huge amounts of doses to Indonesia, Brazil, and Mexico.
According to the UN, the world still needs to dramatically increase its climate commitments to avert disaster. China has promised that its emissions will peak by 2030 — and political meetings in Beijing may soon reveal detail on whether, and how, that is likely to happen.
On the same day that U.S. regulators cleared the way for the Johnson & Johnson vaccine to become the country's third approved COVID-19 shot, two more Chinese companies applied for public rollouts of their vaccines in China.
WHO scientists had arguments in Wuhan over access to detailed patient data. But they appear to disagree about whether those debates amount to a “refusal” by China to share information essential to tracing the origin of COVID-19.
China is millions of doses behind the U.S. in its COVID-19 vaccine rollout, and officials are reportedly pushing back their timeline for the first 50 million shots. Vaccine diplomacy abroad, and vaccine hesitancy at home, are slowing China’s domestic rollout.
CoronaVac, a vaccine by Sinovac Biotech, may only be a little more than 50% effective in preventing COVID-19, according to clinical trial results in Brazil. While this clears the threshold for regulatory approval, it is a disappointing result for countries that already bought tens of millions of doses of the product.