Germany ships BioNTech vaccines to China

The German ambassador in Beijing, Patricia Flor, announced that German citizens in mainland China will be able to benefit from the BioNTech vaccine in the coming weeks.

During German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s visit to Beijing last month, an agreement was reached for the limited application of the vaccine, which has not yet been approved for use on the mainland, to German citizens. Scholz expressed his hope that the limited-use approval would be the first step toward widespread use of the vaccine.

German government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit said yesterday in a statement that they were waiting for the plane with the vaccines to arrive in Beijing.

The vaccine developed by BioNTech company, founded by Turkish scientist Uğur Şahin, will be the first imported vaccine used in mainland China.

Until now, the use of vaccines against covid-19 other than those produced by Chinese companies Sinopharm, Sinovac and CanSino Biotech have not been approved in mainland China.

While the vaccine, for which production and distribution rights in China are held by Fosun Pharma, is not used on the mainland, it is administered in the Hong Kong and Macao Special Administrative Regions of China and in Taiwan, which is in a sovereignty dispute with China. (AA)