A division of China state-run pharmaceutical company Sinopharm Group that is developing two COVID-19 treatments is offering them free to China students going overseas to study.
The move by China National Biotec Group is intended to strengthen public trust in locally made vaccinations, The Wall Street Journal reported quoting a website and some students.
Around 481,613 participants had been administered with the vaccine while 93,653 more had applied to be immunized. The website was down earlier this week and was "under maintenance," reports said.
The CNBG's offer is the latest effort by the group utilizing an emergency-use approval to supply COVID vaccines to hundreds of thousands not enrolled in clinical tests.
Yang Xiaoming, CNBG chairperson, said in August the effectiveness and safety of the vaccines are "well guaranteed."
Xiaoming is among a group of China executives who have announced they have taken the vaccine, including Wu Guizhen, chief biosafety expert at China's Center for Disease Control and Prevention and George Gao, its director.
Meanwhile, Health Times - part of the China government-controlled People's Daily - reported Wednesday that Sinopharm's offer was "not real." It quoted an unnamed source at the company. CNBG didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.
China unveiled a vaccine emergency use campaign in July - offering three potential treatments developed by a division of state biotech firm China National Pharmaceutical Group and U.S.-listed group Sinovac Biotech.
Four of China's experimental COVID drugs are in their final stage of clinical trials involving tens of thousands of subjects with some of its manufacturers expected to release initial results in the next few weeks.
Trust in locally developed vaccines is critical to China's public health reputation. There have been allegations from the U.S. and others that delays in public disclosure enabled the virus to spread from China.
