The Wuhan virus is still raging across the world and there is yet to be any antidote. The whole world is looking forward to a vaccine. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), more than 160 vaccines are in the works at the moment. Recently, the University of Oxford and Astra Zeneca have temporarily have postponed their phase-three Covid-19 vaccine trials. Around the same time, Major General Chen Wei, who has just been awarded by Xi Jinping a Medal of the Republic of China for his achievements in fighting the pandemic, revealed that on March 16 a total of 108 volunteers in Wuhan were given “the world’s first jab of vaccine”, and some of these people were husbands and wives. Chen commended these volunteers as “true heroes.”

The number 108 apparently has its specific meaning. In the Chinese classic novel Water Margin, there are 108 heroes. The 108 anti-pandemic heroes are on a par with the 108 heroes in the Chinese classic. Recently, when Xi talked about China’s fight against the pandemic, he offered his words of wisdom, saying: “There are no born heroes in this world, only ordinary people who stand up.” The quote is reportedly borrowed from Hong Kong protester Lee Ching-hei. But then Xi could have drawn inspiration from a few lines of the left-wing anthem The Internationale. Those lines, brimming with revolutionary fervor, go: “There are no supreme saviours; neither God nor Caesar nor tribune. Producers, let us save ourselves.”

To be sure, the “we” in the song refers to proletarian mortals wielding hammers and sickles. In the war on the coronavirus pandemic, the mortals who come forward are at best guinea pigs volunteering to try vaccines. Those who develop vaccines are experts specializing in different fields. They include virologists, geneticists and pathologists. For ordinary people, even if they are not worried about sacrificing themselves, there is no way they can make any contribution.

This was not the first but the second time the University of Oxford suspended clinical trials for a Covid-19 vaccine. The first time happened in July, when an ordinary mortal participating in trials showed symptoms of multiple sclerosis. The trials later resumed after it was confirmed that the participant’s condition had nothing to do with the vaccine. This time, the trials were suspended after a participant had an inflammation in her spinal cord. But following an investigation, the trials restarted a few days later. Experts say the road ahead is long in the development of a vaccine and suspension is a common practice. There is no need to make a fuss. The regulatory authorities concerned are likely to put a halt to the trials again before a vaccine is formally approved.

It normally takes at least around three years to develop a vaccine. In some cases, it takes forever. In what is the fastest case in history, a vaccine against epidemic parotitis took four years to be created. Yet there is still no vaccine against the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) or AIDS that respectively emerged 17 years and nearly 40 years ago. In this regard, Oxford has been super quick as its clinical trials already entered the third phase in the space of a few months. Yet Chen’s team has without doubt broken all sorts of records by developing “the world’s first jab” within about two months after the Covid-19 epidemic broke out.

Chen “first jab in the world”, however, is not the only vaccine China has created. According to the Wall Street Journal, Sinopharm Group, which is directly under China’s State Council, has developed an inactivated vaccine targeted at people in Wuhan, where the virus originated. In July, Phoenix Satellite Television’s mainland China-based employees and Chinese workers working on Phoenix’s infrastructural projects abroad were injected with Sinopharm’s experimental vaccine doses. In addition, CanSino Biologics, which collaborates with the People’s Liberation Army and is publicly listed in Hong Kong, as well as Sinovac Biotech, listed in the U.S., have also claimed that they would develop genetic technology-based vaccines targeted at 20 viruses related to the Wuhan virus.

How come foreigners cannot do what Chinese people can do? Well, it is all down to the different procedures involved. In the West, clinical trials for a vaccine usually involve 100 to 200 participants. When independent regulatory bodies are satisfied with the results of the trials, the number of participants can be expanded to thousands and then tens of thousands. The test subjects must include people of different ages, both genders, ethnicities, nationalities, and social classes. The results in each phase are usually published in journals to be reviewed by other experts. There is no shortcut. Already, nine pharmaceutical firms in the West have agreed that they would apply for official approval of their vaccines only after their clinical trials have completed and no one would jump the gun.

Why do Western researchers follow such a complicated procedure? The thing is, Western medicine abides by the Hippocratic Oath, an ethical code of which the cardinal rule is “do not harm the patient”. That is all the more important in the digital age, where fake news is ubiquitous and any problem with a vaccine may be easily played up. In recent years, there have been campaigns against vaccines in the West and supporters of these campaigns believe vaccines are open plots that those in power use to control people. Vaccines against the Wuhan virus are meant for the whole world. As Bill Gates' wife has said, without a vaccine, when one person is struck by the virus, the whole world will be affected. Any accident is likely to work in the favor of opponents to vaccines, affect the development of all vaccines, and plunge healthcare systems into a quagmire. Vaccine development is all-important and the research and development process calls for a high level of prudence and transparency so as to win people’s trust. All this, however, is not what China is good at, as it is always carried away by its revolutionary fervor.

In the face of a rare pandemic, it is not only Chinese people under the command of the Chinese Communist Party’s Central Committee who are running against time to develop a vaccine. Researchers around the world are also losing sleep as they try to come up with a vaccine and win the battle against the virus. Yet Western researchers are not driven by the Chinese revolutionary spirit of “not fearing hardship or death”. Restricted by the ethnic code of Hippocratic Oath, they have to keep everything transparent and adhere to facts as they work towards the goal of developing a solution to save patients. On the other hand, one wonders if Major General Chen, in his mission to boost Chinese people’s morale and present to Xi “the first jab in the world”, has ever taken into account the cardinal rule of the Hippocratic Oath.

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