BioNTech says shipped 11,500 doses of COVID vaccine to China

Germany's BioNTech said on Thursday it had shipped 11,500 doses of its COVID-19 vaccine to China to be administered initially to German expatriates.

The shipment landed in China on Wednesday, the first foreign coronavirus vaccine to be delivered to the country. On Thursday, BioNTech said the delivery contained both the original COVID-19 vaccine targeting the original strain of the coronavirus, and its updated vaccine targeting the BA.4/BA.5 subvariants of Omicron.

Early on in the pandemic, BioNTech struck a deal with Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical with a view to supply the shots to greater China.