China Takes Step In Developing Coronavirus Vaccine With Insect Cells

Chinese scientists are working on at least nine potential coronavirus vaccines, and one that is cultivated within insect cells has been approved for human testing, Reuters reports.

The local government in Chengdu, the capital of southwestern China's Sichuan province, said Saturday that using insect cells to grow proteins for the coronavirus vaccine could make large-scale production faster.

The vaccine was shown to prevent coronavirus infections in monkeys with no obvious side-effects, a notice from the Chengdu government said on social media service WeChat.

China reported just 22 coronavirus cases Friday. The nation has 84,939 total confirmed coronavirus cases, the Chinese health commission said. China’s reported death toll is listed at 4,634, though the actual number of coronavirus deaths could be much higher.

China first reported a cluster of coronavirus cases in Wuhan on Dec. 31. The first coronavirus death in China was reported on Jan. 11.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said earlier this month that the country had become the first nation to register a coronavirus vaccine. Russia said Thursday it would start clinical trials with more than 40,000 people, though there is plenty of skepticism regarding the vaccine.

“It's not bogus because he has a vaccine, what's bogus is to say you have a vaccine that's safe and effective,” Dr. Anthony Fauci said Wednesday on the “Healthy You: Surviving a Pandemic” podcast when asked about Putin’s claims.

“There’s a big difference between having a vaccine and proving in trials, that are really well-designed, randomized placebo-controlled trials, that when you’re starting to give it widely to hundreds of millions of people, that you're giving a safe and effective vaccine.”