While two Chinese companies gained domestic approvals for their recombinant protein and adenovirus-based COVID-19 shots as heterologous boosters in February, these currently only account for roughly 21% of all booster shots, showing the continued predominance of inactivated virus-based technology in the country.

CanSino and Zhifei have received the regulatory green light for their respective COVID-19 booster shots in China and an estimated $1.3bn vaccine market is now up for grabs. Domestic contenders are set to elbow each other in the sector with a range of viral vector, recombinant protein and mRNA-based jabs.

Latest approval gives major US drug maker new foothold in China’s heated and increasingly crowded PD-1 immuno-oncology race.

A top virologist and prominent Chinese researcher sounds alarm over reluctance to clear mRNA vaccines amid regional outbreaks and the government rollout of inactivated virus-based booster shots without real-word evidence.