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China prepares to enter the vaccine market
Last reviewed: 01.07.2025
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Chinese vaccine makers are gearing up for a massive export of drugs over the next few years that are designed to lower the cost of vaccinations for the world's poor and create additional competition for large Western pharmaceutical companies.
But before countries around the world approve the use of Chinese vaccines, it will be some time before the safety of these products is tested, given the country’s recent food and drug scandals. China’s food and drug safety record in recent years has been anything but credible: In 2007, a Chinese cough mixture killed 93 people in Central America. A year later, a stabilizer for artificial blood caused dozens of deaths in the United States, and tainted powdered milk poisoned hundreds of thousands of Chinese babies.
Still, China's entry into the market will be a "game changer," said Nina Schwalbe, head of the GAVI Alliance, which buys vaccines for 50 million children a year worldwide.
"We are really excited about the potential for Chinese vaccine manufacturers to enter the global market," she said.
China's vaccine prowess captured global attention in 2009 when a Chinese company developed the first effective swine flu vaccine 87 days into the pandemic. In the past, the US and Europe have typically led the way in new vaccine development.
Then, in March this year, the World Health Organization declared that the safety of drugs produced in China met international standards, opening the door for Chinese vaccines to enter the global market.
China has about 30 companies that have the world's largest annual production capacity of about 1 billion doses. "I personally predict that in the next five to 10 years, China will become a very important vaccine production base in the world," said Wu Yonglin, vice president of China National Biotec Group, the largest maker of the encephalitis vaccine since 1989.
The entry of Chinese companies into the global vaccine market is expected to put pressure on Western pharmaceutical companies to lower prices.
Earlier this year, UNICEF's campaign showed that Western drug makers were significantly overcharging compared to companies in India and Indonesia.
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