Almost half a million people have taken experimental Chinese vaccine

The Sinopharm vaccine is being offered to students for free to boost public confidence in homegrown inoculations

People wait to be tested at the Goulburn Valley Health-Mcintosh Covid-19 testing centre in Shepparton, Victoria, Australia. The Covid-19 outbreak in Shepparton has been caused by a lorry driver infected in a shopping centre earlier in October. EPA

Auxiliary police officers wearing 'Smart Helmet', a portable thermo-scanner that can measure the temperature of passengers at a distance, patrol inside a commuter train, amid the coronavirus outbreak in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Reuters

A nurse prepares to administer a flu vaccination shot to a woman at a free clinic held at a local library in Lakewood, California. Medical experts are hoping the flu shot this year will help prevent a ‘twindemic’ - an epidemic of influenza paired with a second wave of Covid-19, which could lead to overwhelmed hospitals amid the coronavirus pandemic. AFP

Halloween pumpkins are displayed for photo opportunities at the 'Halloween at Descanso' event, which runs until the end of the month at Descanso Gardens in La Canada Flintridge, California, while observing social-distancing guidelines and enforcing face masks due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Trick-or-Treating for Halloween in California this year has been "strongly discouraged" across the state due to the threat of coronavirus. AFP

Employees wear protective masks to serve customers at food counters in the PVR Icon cinema at the DLF Promenade Mall in New Delhi, India. Millions of filmgoers are excitedly waiting for cinemas to reopen this week after a seven-month pandemic-induced halt. Bloomberg

A filmgoer gets his temperature checked at the entrance of a cinema in the south Indian city of Bangalore, after movie halls reopened as the coronavirus-imposed lockdown eases further. AFP

Blind people and their families wait for food parcels during a food distribution organised by Gift of the Givers in Johannesburg CBD. Despite economic activity opening amid lockdown regulations to curb the spread of the coronavirus, the South Africa's economy is still negatively affected. AFP

Colourful face masks are on sale in a shop in the pedestrian area in the city of Dortmund, western Germany. In Dortmund, wearing a mask is mandatory in the pedestrian zone since October 13 as a measure to curb the spread of the coronavirus. AFP

Performers wearing face masks hold lanterns during the Royal Culture Festival at the Gyeongbok Palace in Seoul, South Korea. A month-long heritage festival that explores South Korea's royal palaces and culture started on October 10, with some of this year's events scheduled to be held online amid the coronavirus pandemic. AP Photo

A medic takes a swab from a woman as residents test for Covid-19 near a residential area in Qingdao in east China's Shandong province. AP Photo

Almost 500,000 people in China have taken an experimental Covid-19 vaccine in a bid by the manufacturer to boost public confidence in homegrown inoculations, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday.

China National Biotec Group (CNBG), a division of state-owned Sinopharm, is developing two Covid-19 vaccines and offering them for free to Chinese students planning to study abroad.

A website where people can sign up to receive one of the vaccines said on Monday that 481,613 people had taken it so far with a further 93,653 applications in process. On Tuesday, the website was down and “under maintenance”.

CNBG did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
Chinese pharmaceutical companies have injected hundreds of thousands of people outside of clinical trials under emergency-use conditions approved by Beijing in July.

Western health experts have warned they could be endangering public health by providing shots that have not undergone full trials.

Earlier this week, nine western pharmaceutical companies released a joint statement pledging not to apply for regulatory approval for their experimental vaccines before the formal clinical testing process was complete.

China launched a vaccine emergency-use programme in July, offering three experimental shots developed by a unit of state pharmaceutical giant China National Pharmaceutical Group and US-listed Sinovac Biotech.
A fourth vaccine being developed by CanSino Biologics was approved for use by the Chinese military in June.