Next Steps: Navigating Through an Evolving Chinese Vaccine Landscape
February 29, 2024 | Bridge Consulting
We created a China COVID-19 vaccine tracker back in early 2021 with the intent to shed light on China’s vaccine deliveries during the pandemic – a much-discussed topic that unfortunately, was only informed through a scattering of data across the Internet. In order to provide a more comprehensive picture, our team started to track and compile the flow of vaccine deliveries from China to recipient countries using publicly available sources. This resulted in a tracker that was able to inform the public about key facts such as the volume of vaccines delivered by China, the proportion of sales to donations, the regional distribution, and other trends. The tracker also become a valuable resource for researchers, journalists and more.
However, over the past year 2 to 3 years, the post-COVID landscape has brought about several interesting and unexpected developments. The most obvious one: demand for COVID-19 vaccines has plummeted worldwide, even as waves of COVID variants and other infectious diseases continue to affect us season after season. As a result, the vast majority of the new biotechs established during the pandemic have had to seek development of other commercial products, therapeutics, and applications of their vaccines to diversify their revenue channels.
Still, at the same time, equitable vaccine manufacturing and preparing for the next pandemic of an infectious disease remain very real and pressing concerns. These matters have been elevated on the global level, capturing the attention of international organizations like the WHO, Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, CEPI and more. The African Union has also set their own goal of being able to develop, produce and supply 60% of the total vaccines required by the continent by 2040, and subsequently mobilized various initiatives in partnership with the above organizations to achieve it.
In China, there is a semblance of interest and continued political will from the government towards joint vaccine R&D and manufacturing with developing countries. There remains emphasis on driving forward science and technology, promoting multilateralism, and creating a global community of health for all. Additionally, fierce domestic competition has compelled the vaccine industry to explore overseas markets, particularly across Latin America, Southeast Asia and the Middle East through licensing rights, tech transfer, and even the establishment of vaccine facilities.
The industry is expected to grow this year, as dozens of biotechs race ahead with the development of high-demand products like HPV and herpes zoster vaccines. Preliminary forecasts show China’s vaccine market increasing to 149.1 billion RMB this year, and with China having passed the WHO’s National Regulatory Authority evaluation for a maturity level 3 in 2022, there remain favorable conditions for Chinese vaccines to enter the global market. As China’s vaccine R&D and manufacturing capacity rapidly expands, and vaccines continuing to be vital for global efforts towards health equity and pandemic preparedness, there is a need to understand this new phase of China’s vaccine outreach.
To coincide with this new direction, we are launching our rebranded social media X account – the China Vaccine Guide – which will focus on diving into the actions and contexts of the Chinese public sector and industry in expanding their vaccine footprint across the globe. We are also hoping to identify China’s role in advancing vaccine equity across the developing world, and how China’s evolving vaccine landscape has impact on the global community.
This will include:
- Up-to-date news about vaccine R&D, manufacturing and distribution in China
- Monitoring of international cooperation agreements between China and other countries
- Profiles on notable industry players in China
- A platform for discussion, exchanges and feedback between vaccine and health professionals
