Keeping tabs on Covid-19: Taiwan’s vaccine feud with China ends and South Africa registers more than 17,000 new Covid-19 cases
Geopolitics is impacting the global vaccine rollout as Taiwan scrambles to secure enough doses for its population, plus ImmunityBio intends to offer a booster Covid-19 vaccine following clinical trial completion
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Taiwan’s political limbo with China over BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine imports ends
Fosun Pharma, a healthcare group in China, announced it would supply Taiwan with Covid-19 vaccines from BioNTech.
Taiwan banned the import of any pharmaceutical product made in mainland China in 1993, however, with local Covid-19 infections increasing to 590 cases a day compared to June 2021’s daily infection rates of 24, China has offered Taiwan a share of its own Covid-19 vaccines stock as a means to help solve the current Covid-19 crisis.
In the midst of the political standoff between the two states, Taiwan declined the offer. Taiwan Health Minister Chen Shih-Chung said: “The effectiveness of Chinese [Covid-19] vaccines doesn’t seem to be particularly good. From a legal perspective and a practical perspective [too], Chinese vaccines are not an option for us.”
To deliver doses of Covid-19 vaccines to Taiwan and reduce the rising infection rates, Fosun Pharma has created a deal to manufacture 10 million BioNTech Covid-19 vaccines in a factory in Germany, which has distributions rights in mainland China, Macau, Hong Kong and Taiwan.
Fosun Pharma will then sell the doses to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company and the tech firm, Foxconn.
Wu Yifang, CEO of Fosun Pharma, said: “We will work closely with our partners to provide safe and effective vaccines to Taiwan at an early date, safeguarding the lives and health of Taiwan compatriots, and helping their life [get] back on track as soon as possible.”
ImmunityBio gets regulatory nod to begin Covid-19 booster vaccine trials in South Africa
ImmunityBio has won approval from South Africa’s Health Products Regulatory Authority to proceed with a clinical trial in the country to evaluate the safety, efficacy and immunogenicity of its hAd5 T-cell Covid-19 vaccine.
South Africa registered 17,489 new Covid-19 cases in July 2021, bringing the cumulative total to 2,236,805.
Leonard Sender COO of ImmunityBio, said: “With the virus continuing to spread, moving forward with a boost trial is crucial.”
Patrick Soon-Shiong, Founder and Executive Chairman of ImmunityBio, concurred with Sender’s comments, adding: “The number of new cases in South Africa is frightening, particularly when you consider recent data suggesting currently available Covid-19 vaccines may not provide the immune memory needed to fend off infection from future variants. This highlights an urgent need for a boost dose that confers long-term protection by activating both antibodies and T cells.”
ImmunityBio’s booster vaccine has been designed to offer durable immunity against coronavirus as it targets S and N proteins of SARS-CoV-2 to elicit B and T cell memory against these antigens.
ImmunityBio claims that the vaccine could induce immune responses to SARS-CoV-2 in people who are Ad-immune, indicating that individuals can take the vaccine several times, based on the requirement.
The vaccine is in ongoing Phase 1 clinical trials in the US and South Africa.
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