(Yicai Global) Oct. 20 -- Four Covid-19 vaccine candidates have entered Phase III clinical trials in China and none of the 60,000 volunteers inoculated so far have reported severe adverse reactions, an official at the country’s Ministry of Science and Technology said today.

While there is evidence that the virus does mutate, the difference is not that large and will not substantially affect the vaccines’ development, said Tian Baoguo, deputy head of the MST’s Department of Science and Technology for Social Development.

So far, some 150,000 novel coronavirus genome sequences from 113 nations across six continents have been collected by the world’s databases and over 80,000 of these sequences have been examined by researchers.

China, which has 13 Covid-19 vaccines undergoing human trials, should be able to produce 610 million doses by the end of the year, said Zheng Zhongwei, director of the Development Center for Medical Science and Technology at the National Health Commission.

China National Pharmaceutical Group, otherwise known as Sinopharm, has two inactivated Covid-19 vaccines in late stage trials. It is already preparing two production lines with high biosafety levels that can produce more than one billion doses a year, Chairman Liu Jingzhen said.

“The pricing of Covid-19 vaccines will be acceptable to the masses no matter what happens,” Zheng said, refuting rumors to the contrary.

The pricing will be determined by the companies that make them but these firms must adhere to certain principles, Zheng said. First, the vaccines are a public good and their pricing should be based on production costs rather than the relationship between supply and demand. The pricing will also be determined by the public’s willingness to be inoculated.

Editor: Kim Taylor