Meet Dr. Chen Wei: A pioneer in COVID-19 vaccine research, development

China's Defense Ministry said in a statement yesterday that it had "successfully" developed a vaccine against the new SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus - which causes COVID-19 pneumonia - and has authorized human clinical trials.

Behind this discovery is Dr. Chen Wei, an academic at the Chinese Academy of Engineering and researcher at the Institute of Military Medical Sciences of the People's Liberation Army (PLA).

She has led China's battle against the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) on the front line in Wuhan - the epicenter of the outbreak.

Chen, 54, headed a team of medical workers from the Institute of Military Medical Sciences to fly to Wuhan and to support the epidemic prevention and control efforts there on January 26.

Their mobile laboratory made of connected tents was put into operation on January 30. As of that day, they had successfully produced their own test kits for the novel coronavirus, which greatly reduced the time of nucleic acid tests for the confirmation of suspected cases.

Dr. Chen and her team spent over 10 years researching and producing recombinant vaccines, which have since been added to China's strategic reserve.

At: http://www.womenofchina.cn/womenofchina/html1/special/2003/9429-1.htm

China's Dr. Chen Wei at work during the 2003 SARS epidemic - during which she developed a aerosol spray credited with protecting over 14,000 medical staff from infection.

Her team yesterday announced the successful development of a vaccine against Covid-19.