wo Chinese firms working directly under state supervision say they will be ready to mass produce a coronavirus vaccine by as early as December 2020, pushing the pace of the more than 100 labs working worldwide to develop a safe COVID-19 treatment.

China's Wuhan Institute of Biological Products and the Beijing Institute of Biological Products announced they are entering Phase II of clinical trials, in which 2,000 volunteers received vaccinations last week. A May 29 post on the Chinese social media platform WeChat highlighted the country's researchers having five coronavirus vaccines currently in human testing trials.

As Reuters reported Saturday, the Chinese labs are working under the direction of the Communist Party of China's State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC).[color=#990000][/color]