Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine. Photo: VCG

China’s vaccine developer Sinovac is leading the initiative to develop the Chinese branch of the BRICS vaccine research and development center, a joint vaccine cooperation effort by the five BRICS countries.

Located in Beijing, the China Center will be based on Sinovac’s existing research and development bases and facilities, Sinovac told the Global Times.

It will promote joint research, development and clinical trials of vaccines, as well as the construction of factories, production licensing and mutual recognition of standards among the five BRICS countries through online and offline approaches, according to a statement the Global Times obtained from Sinovac.

Such joint efforts will not be limited to COVID-19 vaccines, but will focus on all the vaccines that Sinovac develops in the future, the company said.

The cooperation mechanism offers potential production licensing for overseas countries including BRICS nations to locally produce Sinovac’s vaccines, just as Sinovac coordinated with Brazil’s state-owned Butantan Institute in a bid to increase local production, the Global Times learnt.

The center will also cooperate with universities, scientific research institutions, health and disease control institutions and industries to monitor epidemics and virus variation, promote vaccine research and industrialization, and explore strategies for vaccine application.

Sinovac said that its cooperation with its Brazilian partner on COVID-19 vaccines has been fruitful, and it will promote vaccine cooperation with other countries in the future.

So far, Sinovac has provided 540 million doses of its COVID-19 vaccine – a result of collaboration with scientists from Indonesia, Turkey and Chile – in China and nearly 40 other countries and regions, accounting for about a quarter of the total global supply, the company said. Nearly 400 million doses of Sinovac’s COVID-19 vaccines have been administered globally.