Friday, September 04, 2009

Sinovac Gets OK for H1N1 Vaccine Production

Tamika Reynolds

September 4th, 2009

3:45pm


In China, authorities had to close a high school in Xin’an county because 80% of its students were diagnosed with H1N1. The Chinese vaccine company Sinovac was told by The State Food and Drug Administration that they could mass produce the H1N1 Vaccine. Stock on Sinovac has reached an all time high of $12.45 on September 1st because of the huge anticipation that it will be able to sell to China. Since China has such a huge population, stock holders believe that profits from this vaccine will be high. Sinovac is the first company nationwide to complete their trial on the new H1N1 strain. The Chinese government plans to have enough vaccine to cover 5% of its population by the end of the year. There have been 3,981 reported H1N1 cases in China but 3,400 have recovered.

The mass production of the H1N1 vaccine in China is very refreshing to hear. When I initially heard about this news I was very concerned because I knew how huge China was and that this disease could really hurt the population of China and other countries because China does a lot of business around the world. I am glad there are no reported deaths but I know that these reports come from the hospitals. China is so big how we not know that there maybe people dying in parts of the country where health care is not accessible? I am also concerned with the problem of the government only purchasing vaccines for 5% of the population. I feel with a country so big and spread out they would need more vaccinations. As for Sinovac, I am curious about how much they are charging for this vaccine? As stocks go up I am sure that the price will rise. Will there come a time that only certain people will be able to get a vaccine? According to the article this situation in China is stable. I hope this is true and not being underestimated.

Link to aricle

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