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.
