recently
News about "Sinovac's COVID vaccine has been discontinued".
It has attracted widespread attention
According to reports
January 10th
A document called "Suspension of the Performance-Based Pay Program for the Covid Project".
Spread online
The payment was made by Beijing Sinovac Biotechnology Co., Ltd
Among them mentioned:
The company's new crown vaccine has been completely discontinued
And the company currently has no new crown vaccine products for sale
▲ Network transmission plan
Beijing Sinovac Biotechnology Co., Ltd. is a subsidiary of Sinovac Holding Biotechnology Co., Ltd. At noon on January 10, a Jimu News reporter called the product consultation hotline of Sinovac Holding Biotechnology Co., Ltd., and the staff confirmed that Sinovac's new crown vaccine had indeed been discontinued, and if the product still needed to be injected, it was necessary to ask the local CDC if there was any inventory. As for the authenticity of the "performance salary plan for the suspension of the new crown project" on the Internet, the other party said that it was not clear, and she was only responsible for product consultation.
▲Sinovac's new crown vaccine products (Source: Sinovac official website)
Previously, manufacturers have suspended the production of new crown vaccines
▲ The notice of discontinuation is transmitted on the Internet, according to the interface news
In April last year, CanSino's "low-cost operation notice" was disseminated on the Internet. According to the content of the notice, it was decided to suspend production line production from April 4 for a period of 180 days. According to a report by Red Star News at the time, the staff of CanSino's patient answering hotline introduced that the new crown (vaccine) production line in Shanghai was temporarily suspended, and there was no problem at the headquarters. Now the demand for the new crown vaccine is not so large, so the production line of Shanghai CanSino new crown (vaccine) is temporarily suspended, and it will not affect other aspects.
On June 13, 2023, Wantai Biotech also issued an announcement to terminate the fund-raising investment project "Nasal Spray Vaccine Industrial Base Construction Project" and permanently replenish the working capital or repay the loan with the remaining raised funds to further optimize the capital structure. The project plans to invest 991 million yuan, of which 600 million yuan will be used to raise funds for the construction of vaccine production plants and supporting buildings, and the purchase of production equipment to build two nasal spray new crown vaccine production lines, with a designed annual production capacity of 240 million doses.
As for the reason for the termination of the project, Wantai Bio said that the construction project of the nasal spray vaccine industrial base was the company's decision in 2021 in combination with the market environment at that time. Factors such as the development trend of the industry and the actual situation of the company are formulated, but the construction progress of the project does not match the time of product launch, and since the adjustment of the national epidemic prevention policy at the end of 2022, the mainland has established a good population immunity barrier, Wantai Bio comprehensively judged that the market demand for the nasal spray new crown vaccine has decreased compared with the estimated number of the original project, and the built nasal spray new crown vaccine with an annual production capacity of 100 million doses can meet the existing market demand, so it decided to terminate the implementation of the project.
According to every economic network, Xu Yue, an insider of a company that had previously carried out the research and development of a new crown vaccine, said, "The cost of research and development is one thing, but the key is that you have developed it, the virus has mutated again, and the speed of research and development cannot keep up at all." Vaccine iteration is too fast, and companies really can't afford it, especially the cost of clinical trials. Before it can be commercialized, the vaccine will become obsolete. ”
Xu Yue said that unlike the influenza virus, which may come back and forth, the new crown virus is escalating all the way, and the epidemic will not come again, and the old virus will not come. Therefore, once the new new crown vaccine appears, the old vaccine can be said to be "out of the stage of history".
A number of XBB vaccines have been approved for use
However, people's willingness to get vaccinated has decreased significantly
The Beijing Center for Disease Control and Prevention said on December 11, 2023 that winter and spring are the seasons with a high incidence of respiratory diseases, and a variety of pathogens are circulating together, and the main circulating strains of the new coronavirus are XBB and its subclades.
According to the Daily Economic News, at present, a number of XBB vaccines have been approved for emergency use in the mainland. In June 2023, Chengdu WestVac's recombinant trivalent novel coronavirus (XBB+BA.5+Delta variant) trimeric protein vaccine (referred to as WestVac XBB vaccine) was approved for emergency use within a certain range. In December, companies such as Shenzhou Cell, CanSino, and Livzon Group also successively issued announcements that the new crown vaccine was included in the emergency use.
A domestic vaccine industry practitioner said that at present, the proportion of people willing to receive the new crown vaccine has decreased significantly, and the official has not clarified the vaccination index requirements, which makes the "promotion of new crown vaccination" less urgent than before, which also reduces the CDC's recruitment motivation. He said, "For example, if a company has a product approved, as long as it is developed and produced, the company will definitely want to be recognized in the market, and there is no situation where the company is not enthusiastic." But in fact, from the beginning of the bidding access, many provinces and cities have little enthusiasm. ”
Virologist Chang Rongshan also said that at present, the public's willingness to receive the new crown vaccine is not strong, and if the new crown vaccine is procured, but not many people come to get vaccinated, it is easy to cause a backlog. Vaccines are different from ordinary commodities in that there are strict requirements for transportation and storage, and unused vaccines will cause waste if they are not used after expiration.
Source: China Xiaokang Network WeChat public account comprehensive Jimu News, Beijing News, every economic network, interface news, daily economic news, Red Star news
Editor-in-charge: Wang Fang
Review: Wu Jinyang