Donald Trump says COVID-19 vaccine could be ready in a month, China targeting November release

The China Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has said that coronavirus vaccines being developed in China may be ready for use by the general public as early as November.

Global vaccine makers are racing to bring out an effective vaccine against the novel coronavirus within this year. Russia, US, UK and China are the top contenders in the race for a COVID-19 vaccine. Speaking at a town hall event hosted by ABC News on Tuesday, US President Donald Trump said that the shot could be ready within four weeks.

He went on saying that the previous administration would have taken perhaps years to have a vaccine because of the FDA and all the approvals. Trump added that the COVID-19 vaccine would be ready within weeks. "You know, could be three weeks, four weeks," he said.

This announcement has raised hopes as well as concerns about swift approval for a coronavirus vaccine. There have been reports that the White House is pressuring the FDA to quickly approve a vaccine for the deadly coronavirus disease before the election on Nov. 3. However, the White House had denied giving any political pressure on the U.S. drug regulator for approval of the vaccine. Drug companies developing COVID-19 vaccines have also jointly said they would not release a vaccine until it had been thoroughly examined for safety and efficacy.

China's vaccines may be ready for public use by November

Meanwhile, an official of the China Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has said that coronavirus vaccines being developed in China may be ready for use by the general public as early as November.

Four COVID-19 vaccines developed by China are in the final stage of clinical trials. Three of these vaccines have already been given to essential workers under an emergency use programme launched in July.

In an interview with state TV late on Monday, CDC chief biosafety expert Guizhen Wu said that Phase 3 clinical trials were going smoothly and the vaccines could be ready for the general public in November or December.

Wu had taken an experimental vaccine herself in April and so far she has not experienced any abnormal symptoms. But she did not specify which vaccines she was referring to for November release.

China's COVID-19 vaccines under Phase 3 clinical trials

Sinopharm, a unit of state pharmaceutical giant China National Pharmaceutical Group, and US-listed Sinovac Biotech are developing three COVID-19 vaccines under the state's emergency use programme. The fourth vaccine under Phase 3 clinical trials is being developed by CanSino Biologics. This one was approved for use by the Chinese military in June.

In July, Sinopharm announced that its vaccine could be ready for public use by the end of this year after the conclusion of Phase 3 trials.

A coronavirus vaccine developed by Sinopharm was on Monday granted emergency approval for use in the UAE six weeks after human trials on the vaccine started in the country.

The UAE National Emergency Crisis and Disaster Management Authority tweeted on Monday that the vaccine will be available to the first line of defense heroes who are at the highest risk of contracting the virus, according to the authority.

Earlier Sinopharm had announced that it has developed two kinds of inactivated COVID-19 vaccines. As many as 100,000 injections of the vaccines been given to people, and none of the participants have shown adverse reactions, with none contracting COVID-19.

With inputs from agencies.