At present (February 3, 2023), there is no official news to prove the death of Academician Chen Wei, who devoted himself to the research of new vaccines and therapeutic drugs for highly pathogenic microorganisms. In 2003, she led the team to develop a new type of interferon, which became the first drug to "stop" SARS and played an important role in fighting the SARS epidemic.
On July 26th, 2022, the evaluation results of the 23rd China Patent Award were announced. The invention patent of "a recombinant novel coronavirus vaccine with human replication-deficient adenovirus as the vector" led by Chen Wei won the China Patent Gold Award.