Alibaba Health, Sinovac partner on virus inoculation platform

Reuters
Updated ·1 min read
FILE PHOTO: Booth displaying coronavirus vaccine candidate from Sinovac Biotech Ltd in Beijing

BEIJING/HONG KONG (Reuters) - China's Sinovac Biotech has partnered with Alibaba Health Information Technology to build a platform for people to book inoculation with a potential coronavirus vaccine, the company said on Thursday.

The two firms signed a strategic pact about the platform, which will also offer services such as follow-up checks after vaccinations and proof of vaccination, Sinovac said on China's WeChat social media.

At the moment, access to the platform is limited to those at high risk of infection, such as medical workers eligible for an emergency use program that China launched in July, Sinovac said.

Access might be widened when the vaccine is ready for public use, a spokesman added.

Tens of thousands of people have already received its vaccine candidate CoronaVac, which is in final-stage large-scale trials in Brazil, Indonesia and Turkey, via the emergency use vaccine.

About 90% of the firm's employees and their families are participating in the emergency use program.

(Reporting by Roxanne Liu in Beijing and Meg Shen in Hong Kong; Editing by Jan Harvey and Clarence Fernandez)