Chinese Omicron-specific mRNA COVID vaccine candidate to be trialed in UAE – Reuters

Chinese Omicron-specific mRNA COVID vaccine candidate to be trialed in UAE – Reuters

BEIJING, April 30 (Reuters) - China's Suzhou Abogen Biosciences Co said its COVID-19 vaccine candidate using the messenger RNA (mRNA) technology and targeting the Omicron variant has obtained clinical trial approval in the United Arab Emirates.

With Friday's announcement, Abogen joins Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna in trialing candidates modified specifically against Omicron, a highly transmissible variant with increased resistance to antibodies elicited by existing shots. read more

Mainland China has vaccinated over 88% of its 1.4 billion people against COVID with non-mRNA shots. It has not approved any foreign vaccines, although real-world data indicated the two most used Chinese products, manufactured by Sinopharm and Sinovac, have lower effectiveness against COVID infection than mRNA shots from Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna.