BioNTech said on Thursday (Dec 22) it had shipped 11,500 doses of its COVID-19 vaccine to China to be administered initially to German expatriates, marking the first foreign coronavirus vaccines to be sent to the country.
BioNTech said the delivery, which landed in China on Wednesday, contained both the original COVID-19 vaccine targeting the original strain of the coronavirus, and its updated vaccine targeting the BA.4/BA.5 subvariants of Omicron.
“The arrival of the vaccine doses on the Chinese Mainland is a great milestone for us as joint partners with Fosun Pharma and our efforts to address this pandemic,” said Sean Marett, BioNTech’s chief business and commercial officer.
The vaccines are expected to be available in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenyang and Chengdu, BioNTech said.
The group is working with Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical to deliver the shots to greater China.