SINOVAC signs agreement to supply CoronaVac to COVAX

SINOVAC Biotech announced that it has signed an advance purchase agreement (APA) with Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, which is on behalf of COVAX Facility, to provide up to 380 million doses of inactivated COVID-19 vaccine, CoronaVac for distribution through the COVAX Facility.

According to the APA, SINOVAC will supply 50 million doses of CoronaVac by the end of September of 2021. In addition, Gavi has the option to purchase an additional 150 million doses in the fourth quarter of 2021 and 180 million more doses in the first half of 2022. In total, up to 380 million doses of CoronaVac will be available to both self-financing participants of the Facility as well as those supported by the Gavi COVAX AMC.

“I welcome today’s agreement, which will make doses immediately available to COVAX participants. This is yet another example of Gavi’s active portfolio management strategy, ensuring the Facility has options in the face of constraints such as supply delays. Thanks to this deal, and because this vaccine has already received WHO Emergency Use Listing, we can move to start supplying doses to countries immediately,” said Dr Seth Berkley, CEO of Gavi.

Weidong Yin, Chairman, President, and CEO of SINOVAC said, “Our mission at Sinovac is to supply vaccines in an effort to eliminate human disease. We appreciate the efforts from international organisations, including WHO and COVAX partners, to accelerate the efforts of disease prevention.

On July 8, the Lancet published study results of phase III trial results in Turkey, showing Sinovac’s CoronaVac can prevent 83.5 per cent of symptomatic cases and 100 per cent of fatal and hospitalised cases. On July 7, 2021, the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) online published the results of a real-world study of Chile’s mass vaccination with CoronaVac. The results show that the vaccine has 65.9 per cent effectiveness in protecting symptomatic cases. Its vaccine can reduce 87.5 per cent of hospitalizations, and prevent 90.3 per cent of serious cases and 86.3 per cent of deaths.