Beijing did not want to be dependent on foreign companies like BioNTech and therefore waited a long time before granting the first approval. The race has now been won by the domestic company CPSC.
By Redaktion Table
Covid vaccinations and medications are currently in higher demand among Chinese tourists in the gambling mecca of Macau than a spot at the roulette table. Casino owners hope that the new year will also bring the longed-for recovery. And with them, the entire city, which has made its productivity and prosperity almost completely dependent on the gambling passion of Chinese customers.
By Redaktion Table
While many countries are cautiously reopening in light of low Covid figures, China continues to close down its borders. The reason is the rapidly spreading delta variant, which domestic vaccines seem to be less effective against. This has serious impacts on business travelers.
By Redaktion Table
BioNTech is a pharmaceutical company based in Mainz, Germany. The name is an artificial word made up of the English words Biopharmaceutical New Technologies. The company gained worldwide fame through the development of its BNT162b2 BioNTech vaccine against the coronavirus. The China.Table editorial team provides current BioNTech News regarding China.
The BioNTech vaccine will be marketed in a global collaboration. Fosun Pharma is to open up the Chinese market, Hong Kong and Macau for the Mainz-based company, while Pfizer Inc. of New York is to open up the rest of the world. The French pharmaceutical company Sanofi is to help with production. But the news from the People's Republic of China is troubling. Since the beginning of 2021, a campaign of false reports has discredited the vaccine. Yet the year began very successfully for the drugmaker. By the end of December 2020, BioNTech had already received conditional marketing approval from the European Commission. This was followed by approval in Hong Kong at the end of January. Also thanks to the Chinese cooperation partner Fosun Pharma. Almost at the same time, Xi Jinping, China's head of state, made the following statement at the World Economic Forum: "It is particularly important to strengthen cooperation in R&D, production and distribution of vaccines. They need to be made public goods that are truly accessible and affordable to people in all countries." So a walk in the park for BioNTech? Not at all.
That's because this prominent endorsement was also the last of its help. Since then, Chinese state television and members of the government have been spreading false reports about BioNTech products. Liu Xin, for example, the spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, spread the news via Twitter that ten Germans had died after receiving the BioNTech vaccine. A move with a signal effect. Twitter is blocked in China. So the message was probably directed primarily at international followers. In an editorial the daily newspaper "Global Times" spoke of 23 deaths after a vaccination in Norway. Experts had tried several times to put this news in perspective. The dead were very elderly people with severe pre-existing conditions. Their deaths had nothing to do with the vaccine. But it seems as if the People's Republic sees itself pushed into the corner on the subject of the Corona vaccine.
Not without good reason. For one thing, there have been loud accusations that China is to blame for the spread of the virus in the first place. Donald Trump, the former president of the USA, made the Corona virus the "China virus" in his speeches. And the People's Republic also often did not look good in the international press in the pharmaceutical industry's race to produce a tolerable and effective vaccine. On the other hand, there was criticism of the Chinese pharmaceutical company Sinovac. Despite the global pandemic, the Chinese responsible parties did not release important research results or released them too late. A lack of transparency was the accusation. In addition, studies dealing with the effectiveness of the vaccine came to very different conclusions. The information provided by the authorities and the results of studies in Brazil, Turkey and Indonesia vary between 50.4 and 91 percent.
Sinovac did not even have general approval as of the end of February 2021. But that doesn't stop the People's Republic from exporting the vaccine to various countries for publicity. Especially to poorer ones. The deliveries are then usually accompanied by a photographer. News then show the deliveries at the airport. The flag of the People's Republic flies next to that of the recipient country. In Europe, Serbia is one of the countries to benefit from this. The country is being supplied with Russian and Chinese vaccines. Hungary, meanwhile, is the only country in the European Union where the preparation from the Chinese pharmaceutical company Sinopharm has received approval. The government under head of state Viktor Orbán has ordered five million vaccine doses. This is not an isolated case. The People's Republic has already sold its vaccine to a total of 27 countries. Another 53 have received it as a gift.
Half a billion vaccine doses have already been pledged by China. The four Chinese manufacturers have announced 2.6 billion doses. It is a vaccine diplomacy with an uncertain outcome for citizens. There is no actual data from clinical trials. They are left to trust the manufacturers' claims. Sinopharm writes of 79 percent effectiveness against coronavirus. Cansino states 65 percent. For Sinovac, as mentioned, the values oscillate between 50.4 and 91 percent. With their own vaccine, BioNTech, Pfizer and the French partner Sanofi are taking a more cautious and diplomatic approach. Also and especially on the Chinese market, for which a local partner, Fosun Pharma, has been specially included. Fosun has already ordered around 100 million vaccine doses for mainland China in December 2020. Despite domestic competition. However, this is only the first step. Through the joint venture, BioNTech has the opportunity to have 200 million vaccine doses produced at the factory in China. No wonder. Fosun Pharma's goal from the start was to also produce the vaccine itself.
BioNTech are not taking any shortcuts and are taking the official route. Back in the summer of 2020, the pharmaceutical company from Mainz launched an efficacy study in China with around 30,000 participants. This was followed by approval for Hong Kong at the beginning of the year. There was also approval by the World Health Organization (WHO) at the beginning of 2021, which is particularly important for countries that do not have their own approval process or corresponding institutes. The skepticism of the government in the People's Republic must therefore have other reasons than medical doubts. This is particularly evident in China's handling of Taiwan's vaccination plans. If Chen Shih Chung, Taiwan's health minister, had had his way, his authority would have purchased five million doses of the BioNTech and Pfizer vaccine as early as the end of February 2021. But the Chinese government prohibited the deal. It's another level of escalation in the conflict between the two countries. While the People's Republic wants to enforce the One China policy and considers Taiwan as part of China, Taiwan demands more independence.
Because of the dispute, the government in Taipei also refuses to negotiate with the Chinese company Fosun Pharma. For Taiwan, only BioNTech and Pfizer are the contacts. This behavior is seen as an additional affront by the representatives of the People's Republic. However, it cannot be ruled out that BioNTech could once again become important for China. On the one hand, the partnership with Fosun Pharma and the local production are an important foundation for success in the People's Republic. For another, there was a vaccine scandal in China in 2018. 200,000 children had received an inferior drug against diphtheria, tetanus and whooping cough. Arrest warrants were issued for 18 people responsible at the pharmaceutical company Changsheng Life Sciences. An incident that the Chinese population has not forgotten. BioNTech and Pfizer are very transparent in the development and production of the vaccine. The individual development steps and study results can all be viewed. Chinese companies in the pharmaceutical sector have taken considerably more time with this. However, it is questionable whether this will be enough to influence public opinion in view of the propaganda against BioNTech in China.
But BioNTech and Pfizer also have to put up with criticism in Europe. Those responsible are particularly offended by the pricing. With a purchase of 500 million units, the pharmaceutical companies originally wanted 54.08 euros per vaccine dose. A price, which Wolf Dieter Ludwig, chairman of the medicament commission of the German medical profession, considers "dubious". Commenting on the offer, he said, "In this I see a profit motive that is in no way justified in the current pandemic situation." The sharp words also stem from the fact that Astra Zeneca is offering its vaccine for one-twentieth the price. In addition, BioNTech had received significant government subsidies for research and technology over the past decade. After negotiations, BioNTech reduced the price to 15.50 euros per dose, according to consistent reports.
Explaining the high price of its vaccine, the company said in a press release, "The price of the vaccine depends on various factors, such as the person placing the order, and is within a certain range for all higher-income countries. For lower-income countries, the price will be adjusted accordingly." BioNTech founder Ugur Sahin also takes a stand on the issue. In an interview, he explains that when the interview was submitted, it was not yet clear how production of the vaccine could be scaled. As a result, he says, production processes and costs are unclear.
