Chinese vaccine against Omicron variants to undergo clinical trials

A medical worker prepares a dose of COVID-19 vaccine at a vaccination site in Beijing, capital of China, Dec. 9, 2021. (Xinhua/Zhang Yuwei)

A Chinese inactivated vaccine against Omicron variants was approved for clinical trials by the National Medical Products Administration on April 26.

The vaccine, developed by the China National Biotec Group affiliated with Sinopharm, has been under research since December 2021, the company said.

Preliminary tests, such as safety evaluation in animals and immunogenicity research, showed that the vaccine can produce high neutralizing antibody titer against various variants including Omicron, it said.

In the clinical trials, a randomized, double-blind and cohort study method will be adopted among people aged 18 and above that have inoculated two or three doses of COVID-19 vaccines to evaluate the safety and immunogenicity of the inactivated vaccine.