In the white, sterile walls of a new building on the outskirts of Beijing, two employees wearing masks and gloves extract a clear liquid into small jars.

In some parts of the building, interior furnishing is still in progress.

A 20,000 square meter production plant has been built in recent months to produce Covid-19 vaccine developed by Chinese pharmaceutical company Sinovac Biotech.

CoronaVac, Sinovac's potential vaccine, is part of China's effort to lead the rollout of vaccinations against Covid-19 and to demonstrate its scientific prowess.

Scientists around the globe are racing to find ways to stop the virus that infected 24.3 million people and nearly 830,000 deaths.

CoronaVac Phase Three trials are underway in Brazil and Indonesia with around 11,000 volunteers.

The biotech company started developing the vaccine in late January, less than a week after Wuhan, the original epidemic in China, was blocked.

CoronaVac uses an old-fashioned approach - using the inactivated virus to boost the body's immunity.

Meanwhile, the US is pushing for a newer vaccine that is made with genetic material from the virus.

To speed up the pre-clinical process, as researchers develop potential vaccines and test animals, Yang said the company has conducted several parallel studies to be able to choose the best results.

Sinovac also works closely with China's pharmaceutical regulator to speed up the approval process.

In May, Sinovac published in Science about the results of testing in animals, showing that the vaccine produces effective antibodies in mice and rats, as well as primates like yellow monkeys.

But phase three required large-scale testing with thousands of participants.

Yang said the negligible number of new infections in China did not meet the conditions needed for Phase Three testing, so Sinovac reached an agreement with Brazil, the world's second largest epidemic region with more than 3,

In collaboration with the Butantan Institute in Sao Paulo, a Phase Three trial was launched in late July with the participation of 9,000 volunteers, including all medical staff taking care of Covid-19 patients who were not infected with the virus.

Trials are still underway, but Dimas Covas, president of the Butantan Institute, said preliminary data as of August 26 showed that CoronaVac stimulated immunity in 97% of people vaccinated with two doses.

Earlier this month, Covas said vaccine efficacy data could be released in October, potentially kicking off the approval process in a few months.

This month, Sinovac also launched a Phase Three trial in Indonesia with 1,620 volunteers.

As the global vaccine race heats up, Yang says competition between biotech companies is not a big deal because the demand for vaccines is too great for a single company to handle.

"Our speed must be faster than the rate of the virus infection instead of competing with the others. We want everyone to be successful, so there will be enough supply to protect everyone," Yang said.

Two other potential Chinese vaccines that have begun phase three testing are developed by state-owned Sinopharm.

Thirteen companies in China are working on the Covid-19 vaccine.

Vaccination is key for countries like China, where strict measures have helped keep the prevalence of nCoV in the population, says Ivan Hung, an infectious disease specialist at the University of Hong Kong medical school.

Chinese President Xi Jinping has repeatedly urged Chinese scientists to accelerate research and development of vaccines.

Vaccine not only helps save lives, brings scientific prestige and opens opportunities for economic recovery, it also has significant geopolitical significance.

Successful vaccine development will give China the opportunity to consolidate its global position by positioning itself as a leader in the fight against the pandemic, dispelling its supposed origin of Covid-19.

Last month, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte announced that he had asked Xi to give the country priority access to Chinese vaccines.

During an online summit with African leaders in June, Mr Xi pledged that "once the development and deployment of the Covid-19 vaccine is completed in China, the African countries will lie.

Earlier this week, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang also said Beijing would give priority to Southeast Asian countries including Cambodia, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam to access the vaccine.

In China, officials have approved the potential "emergency use" of the vaccine before the end of the final phase trial.

The vaccine developed by Sinopharm is still in phase three testing in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Peru, Morocco and Argentina.

Zheng Zhongwei, director of NHC's Center for Science and Technology Development, said that it is appropriate to "emergency use" of unapproved vaccine "in the event of a major public health threat".

However, on August 24, Anthony Fauci, America's leading infectious disease expert, warned against allowing emergency use, explaining that such a move could compromise development efforts.

"One of the potential risks if you roll out the vaccine too early is that it will make it difficult, if not blocking, the other vaccines in getting people to participate in the trial," added Fauci.