China Daily:

More than 1.4 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been taken in our country. How is the situation regarding the production and supply of COVID-19 vaccines in our country? Can we manage to meet the demands for vaccine exports? What measures has the ministry taken to secure the production and supply of vaccines? Thank you.

Tian Yulong:

Thank you for your questions. I will answer these questions. The ministry has deepened its efforts to implement the spirit of a series of important directions and instructions by General Secretary Xi Jinping regarding epidemic prevention and control and vaccine production and supply. Under the overall arrangements and demands of the Joint Prevention and Control Mechanism of the State Council, the ministry led relevant departments to increase efforts in organizing and coordinating the production and supply of vaccines. We offered guidance for seven enterprises to quickly expand their capability and output, and accelerate the industrialization of vaccine production. As of this year, efforts to expand the capability and output of vaccine production have been remarkably accelerated, and the capability of vaccine production and supply has been significantly improved. Everybody can see this. As of July, vaccine production capability reached 5 billion doses, effectively meeting domestic demand. As you just mentioned, we have supplied 1.4 billion doses of the vaccine now. We also supplied 570 million doses of vaccine overseas. The production capability and output of COVID-19 vaccines has continued to expand, the supply capability has continued to improve, and the growth has been significant, which has well met domestic demands for epidemic prevention and control and vaccination, and also supported other countries for epidemic prevention and control in our best abilities. 

We have high demands for vaccine quality and safety because people's lives are of supreme importance. It takes three months for a vaccine to go from production to inoculation due to technical difficulty, a number of control links and procedures. The MIIT and relevant departments have worked together to coordinate the whole chain of production and supply, including research and development, production, review, approval and transportation and effectively guaranteed production and supply. There are mainly several specific measures.

First, we have accelerated the building of production capacity for all types of vaccines. Progress has proceeded according to plan. On the basis of ensuring quality and safety, we have made great efforts to expand production capacity and guarantee supply. Second, we have guided vaccine companies to strengthen quality and safety control. In particular, higher requirements have been put forward concerning the supply of raw and auxiliary materials, inspection and quality. Ensuring quality and safety is our first priority. Third, we have strengthened connection between supply and demand. Domestically, we have guaranteed supply for key cities and regions in urgent need for vaccines. Internationally, we have communicated with the WHO and other countries to provide support, which is also a very important task.

In the second half of the year, in accordance with the decisions and deployments of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council, the MIIT will continue to organize and coordinate with relevant departments, and guide enterprises to guarantee the quality and safety of vaccines and maintain stable production. We will also coordinate domestic and international demands, and support vaccine enterprises to carry out international production capacity cooperation in multiple ways to expand vaccine accessibility and affordability and make more contributions to the global fight against COVID-19. Of course, we will still give priority to domestic epidemic prevention and control and vaccination needs. We are confident that we will accomplish this task. Thank you.