Coronavirus: Instead of testing on animals Chinese woman doctor injected herself with untested COVID-19 vaccine
The world is struggling to find a vaccine for the treatment of Coronavirus especially in China which was the epicenter of the epidemic disease. Amid the chaos, the world-renowned epidemiologist and a major-general in China’s People’s Liberation Army, Chen Wei has injected their vaccine on which she was working with her team since mid- January.
Chen was the doctor who also fought against deadly viruses like Ebola and SARS. Now, she is working on the vaccine that can be proved fruitful for the treatment of COVID-19.
In a bid to prove their loyalty to Communist Party, the 54-year-old doctor along with her six members of her team on Tuesday injected themselves with the vaccine that they haven’t tested on animals, VICE reports claimed.
Chen is one of the leading Chinese epidemiologists and major-general in China’s PLA has created quite a stir on Weibo by her radical approach.
The photo of the doctor vaccinating herself and her team members also circulated on the Internet.
The pictures have been captioned: “The world's first new coronavirus vaccine was injected into the left arm of inventor Chen Wei."
The world's first new coronavirus vaccine was injected into the left arm of inventor Chen Wei.
— 傻熊的店 (@issca131) March 4, 2020
Dare to be the first in the world, seven Communist Party members of the expert group were vaccinated against the new coronavirus! pic.twitter.com/RMfZFVK86g
Dare to be the first in the world, seven Communist Party members of the expert group were vaccinated against the new coronavirus!”
According to the Chinese media reports, Chen and her research team have been working for over a month at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, a laboratory with the highest biosafety classification. Chen’s team also working on treatments including plasma therapy and repurposing a nasal spray that is designed to boost immunity to the virus.
In a conversation with China’s state-run television, Chen said that they have made breakthroughs in the development of a vaccine.
“We are doing all we can to put the recombinant vaccine that we are developing into clinical application," Chen said.
She further added, “We must strive to bring the vaccine we are working on to clinical trial and application, providing strong technical support for winning this battle.”
However, this news comes just a day after China President Xi Jinping visited the Academy of Military Medical Sciences to stressed workers to find the treatment to battle against the coronavirus outbreak.
Also Read: Coronavirus: WHO asks Indians 'no need to panic' after 28 positive cases reported
First published: 5 March 2020, 13:12 IST