China will strengthen international cooperation in future clinical trials of COVID-19 vaccines, building on previous collaboration in vaccine development, said the Minister of Science and Technology on Sunday.
China is making great efforts in the global race to develop a vaccine against the new coronary epidemic that has started in its central city of Wuhan, with Chinese researchers conducting five or half of all clinical trials in humans worldwide, according to data compiled by the World Health Organization.
President Xi Jinping vowed last month at the World Health Assembly, the governing body of WHO, that vaccines developed by China will become a “global public good” once they are ready to be used, and this will be China’s contribution to ensuring the accessibility and affordability of vaccines in the development of countries.
The development “of a vaccine is still the fundamental strategy in our efforts to defeat the new coronavirus,” said Minister of Science and Technology Wang Zhigang at a press conference in Beijing.
But developing a vaccine is very difficult and time-consuming, he said, when asked how China would initially prioritize vaccines by country when a vaccine is found.
“The rigor of vaccine development has been compared by some scientists to a dance involving precise steps and repetitions,” said Wang.
In a white paper released by the State Council Information Office at the press conference, the government urges global cooperation, saying the international community should resist pointing fingers and politicizing the virus. He did not name any country.
The administration of US President Donald Trump has accused China of hiding and lacking transparency regarding the pandemic. Beijing has repeatedly denied the allegations, saying it had kept the world informed from the start.
The head of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention informed his American counterpart by telephone of the then unknown virus as early as January 4, according to the white paper.
In the white paper, the Chinese government said that the medical cost of all coronavirus patients in China was 1.35 billion yuan ($ 191 million) in late May.
Last month, President Xi Jinping pledged $ 2 billion in financial support over the next two years to help deal with COVID-19, particularly to help developing countries.
(This story has not been edited by GalacticGaming staff and is automatically generated from a syndicated feed.)
