A state-owned Chinese company is boasting that its employees, including top executives, received experimental shots even before the government approved testing in people.
China has positioned itself to be a strong contender. Eight of the nearly two dozen potential vaccines in various stages of human testing worldwide are from China, the most of any country. And SinoPharm and another Chinese company already have announced they’re entering final testing.
SinoPharm’s claim that 30 “special volunteers” rolled up their sleeves even before the company got permission for its initial human study raises ethical concerns among Western observers. The company’s post cites a “spirit of sacrifice” and shows seven men in suits and ties — a mix of scientists, businessmen and one Communist Party official with a background in military propaganda.
The first round of human testing — a Phase 1 trial — requires permission from a country’s drug regulators, who decide whether there is enough laboratory and animal evidence to justify the attempt.SinoPharm, which declined to comment for this story, is testing two vaccine candidates that received government permission for Phase 1 trials in mid- to late April.
CanSino and Chen’s Academy of Military Medical Sciences turned down requests for information and interviews. The National Medical Products Administration, which approves vaccine trials, also declined to comment. With a COVID-19 vaccine, national pride is at stake. President Xi Jinping pledged that any Chinese-made vaccine would be a “global public good.”
Scientists vehemently debate self-experimenting because what happens to one or a few people outside of a well-designed study is anecdote, not evidence. More than 600,000 U.S. schoolchildren had to be given Salk’s vaccine or a dummy shot to prove polio protection. It took almost another decade to validate Marshall’s ulcer germ theory, which earned him a Nobel as well.
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
GMA workers demand testing after employee gets COVID-19'To ask workers to report for work without assuring their health and well-being not only endangers everyone in the newsroom, but will also risk affecting the continued operations of one of the few remaining sources of critical information amid this pandemic,' says the Talents Association of GMA
Read more »
US executes 2nd man in a week; lawyers said he had dementiaThe United States on Thursday carried out its second federal execution this week following a hiatus of nearly two decades, killing by lethal injection a Kansas man whose lawyers contended he had dementia and was unfit to be executed. | AP
Read more »
31 of 235 recipients of Manila’s drive-thru testing turn out positive for coronavirusAt least 31 out of the 235 recipients of Manila’s drive-thru COVID-19 testing facility along Padre Burgos Avenue have tested positive for the coronavirus, Mayor Isko Moreno revealed on Thursday. | GabrielLaluINQ
Read more »
Isko: Manila’s drive-thru testing shows public willing to be tested if it’s freeMANILA, Philippines — If there is anything that Manila’s drive-thru testing facility showed, it is that the public would willingly submit themselves to health protocols and COVID-19 testing if it
Read more »
Russia is hacking virus vaccine trials, US, UK, Canada sayWASHINGTON — Western governments accused hackers believed to be part of Russian intelligence of trying to steal valuable private information about a coronavirus vaccine on Thursday, calling out
Read more »
Solon vows to remove legal barriers in purchase of COVID vaccineAs the global race for the development of an anti-COVID-19 vaccine heated on the positive side, the chairperson of the House Committee on Health vowed Thursday to eliminate legal impediments against the immediate procurement of the vaccine.
Read more »