China Report ASEAN

The office building of Beijing Institute of Biological Products Co., Ltd. (BJIBP) under China National Biotec Group (CNBG) in Beijing’s southeastern outskirts was still brightly lit at 9:00 p.m. on December 25, 2020. Dong Jianchun, head of engineering support, his deputy Shi Wei, and technical team leader Zhang Yu were feverishly pouring over a design plan for the company’s second production facility for the inactivated COVID-19 vaccine. They were checking implementation details related to the project as construction work entered the final stage and testing of production equipment was about to commence.

On a hot morning in July 2020, Liang Hongyang, deputy director of the No. 6 Vaccine Office of the Beijing Institute of Biological Products (BJIBP) under China National Biotec Group (CNBG), a subsidiary of China National Pharmaceutical Group (Sinopharm), rushed into the lab working on the COVID-19 vaccine. When he left the BJIBP building, Liang saw tents were pitched and people were waiting in a long queue to get vaccinated. He overheard someone say, “I finally feel safe after getting vaccinated.”