Sputnik:

How is the vaccine research progressing? What kind of technologies are being used? Is there any need to conduct collaboration? If so, which countries will China collaborate with? Will China cooperate with Russia on inactivated vaccine development? Which aspects will the cooperation cover? Thank you.

Wang Guiqiang:

Let me answer first and Professor Yan can add something. First, vaccines have attracted a lot of attention from the public. In terms of epidemic control and prevention, vaccines are an important element, so everyone is greatly interested. The Chinese government launched the vaccine R&D plan at the very outset. Currently, China has supported vaccine research in five routes, including adenovirus vector vaccine, inactivated vaccine, nucleic acid vaccine and others. They are all making progress now. We have noticed that the fastest one is the adenovirus vector vaccine developed by Academician Chen Wei as it was the first to enter phase-I clinical trials and has now entered the second round of clinical trials. The vaccines being developed by the China National Biotec Group and Sinovac Biotech are also under clinical research.

As for your second question, I'm not clear about the situation regarding cooperation with Russia, but the R&D of a vaccine is a big project and a COVID-19 vaccine has no successful precedent to follow, therefore, it's a systematic project. We are currently cooperating with the U.S., Germany, U.K. and some other countries. As for cooperation with Russia, Professor Yan will fill you in on that.

Generally speaking, vaccine R&D is a systematic project. We all anticipate it will be successful and contribute to the epidemic control and prevention. Thank you.

Yan Jinghua:

Let me add something. As a researcher into vaccine R&D, I'm currently very eager to cooperate with international counterparts as different labs and enterprises each have their own advantages. If we can combine those advantages together, the process will be accelerated and we can acquire a safe and effective vaccine much sooner. Thank you.