An inspiring discussion on international COVID-19 vaccine cooperation

QINGDAO, China, June 7, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Over 1,500 experts, scholars, government medical officials, and representatives of non-government organizations and pharmaceutical companies convened in Qingdao for the second Global Health Forum ("GHF") of Boao Forum for Asia. The four-day affair, which commenced on June 1, explored the theme "Health Beyond Health: In the Year of Sustainable Development 2030."

International promotion and application of new COVID-19 vaccines was the topic of heavy discussion for global collaboration, international procurement standards and procedures, along with global mutual recognition. Dr. Wang Yu, Expert Consultant of GHF urged R&D institutions and manufacturers to pay close attention to the completeness and coverage of data and to adopt a systematic approach in line with the WHO.

When it comes to global application, Dr. Wang Yu strongly believes in the advantages of working with the United Nations Procurement Division(UNPD) to make COVID-19 vaccines more widely available. "To have the vaccines internationally distributed and mutually recognized would need permits and approvals from the United Nations, therefore the vaccine manufacturers need to prepare themselves with international vision and sketching of each phase procedure in line with WHO's standards and requirements which will greatly facilitate global distribution" said Dr. Wang at Session 2: Health in All Policies - 2021 Forum on UN Sustainable Development Goals.

Meanwhile in Session 11: Universal Health Coverage - R&D, Accessibility and Affordability of COVID-19 Vaccines, Zheng Zhongwei, Director of the Development Center for Medical Science and Technology, National Health Commission of the People's Republic of China, reported data from a survey done by Chile's Ministry of Health on the 13.25 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine from China, when addressing the accessibility of vaccines in global supply.

"It was found that 14 days after vaccination, the effective rate of preventing infection to be 65.3%, preventing hospitalization 87%, severe illness 90%, and death 86%," said Director Zheng.

China's vaccines, for example, have presently been approved for conditional marketing in over 100 countries and will be able to provide one billion doses this year and many more in 2022. Vaccine supplier, CanSinoBIO has also innovated its marketing approaches to export the vaccine stock instead of injection sets to reduce the cost of logistics and storage. In addition, CanSinoBIO cooperates with local vaccine filling companies to dispatch on-site experts to work through the proper filling processes and standards in order to meet the high demands of vaccine supply.

Advocating collaboration and innovation, GHF witnessed inspiring proposals, successful cooperation projects and meaningful lessons from policy standards leaders, corporate CEOs and opinion leaders in the medical and health field. Further topics discussed at sub-forums included unmet health needs in the current era, new technological advancements and boundaries, and new health service models.

For more information, please visit: http://www.ghfbfa.cn

About Global Health Forum of Boao Forum for Asia

Global Health Forum of Boao Forum for Asia, initiated in 2018 to build a comprehensive platform with high representativeness and authoritativeness in the health field for high-end dialogues and practical cooperation that integrates governments, businesses and higher education institutions based on its features and advantages. Committed to pooling wisdom of the entire industry and promoting interdisciplinary collaboration, it focuses on the frontiers and cross-border integration trends of the big health industry.