Chinese vaccine Sinopharm successfully controls Covid-19. According to a study published by an esteemed U.S. medical journal, specified data from a late-stage trial of a Chinese shot have emerged in the scientific literature for the first time.
Sinopharm’s vaccine-making unit China National Biotec Group Co. developed two inactivated vaccines that prevented symptomatic infections by 72.8% and 78.1%, primarily in line with what the state-owned drugmaker had announced earlier. The findings were published in the Journal of the American Medical Association on May 26.
From Sinopharm and Sinovac Biotech Ltd., including Beijing-based vaccine maker, Chinese shots have appeared as the backbone of rolling out vaccines in developing countries from Hungary and Serbia to Seychelles and Peru. The vaccinations are under probe, and their manufacturers have been criticized for not sharing sufficient data about the safety and efficacy of the jabs.
Since cases began to spike in countries like Seychelles and Chile that used a sizable share of their population to vaccinate, lack of transparency has incited doubts about the jabs’ ability to curb Covid-19. Approvals from stringent drug regulators and the World Health Organization were stalled. Earlier this year, Hong Kong refused the requirement for a peer-reviewed publication to approve the Sinovac vaccine, but the regulators in Singapore are still demanding additional details.
The study reported in JAMA included 40,832 volunteers from across the UAE, Bahrain, Egypt, and Jordan. They were equally divided into three groups and received alternate two shots of the vaccines, three weeks apart, or inactive shots. After two weeks of the second shot, infections appeared in 26 people given the WIV04 vaccine, 21 of which were given the HBO2 vaccine and 95 given a placebo jab.
Volunteers who were given an active vaccine did not develop any severe disease compared to two of those given a placebo. Sinopharm’s subsidiary China National Biotec Group, in a statement, said the results were submitted initially to JAMA on March 17, and on May 12, the paper was accepted for publication.
The published study disclosed some curbs in the vaccine trial. The testing was majorly biased toward men, who accounted for almost 85% of the volunteers. Less than 2% were aged 60 or older, and most of them were healthy. Hence, there is little data about the efficiency and safety among women, the elderly, and those with underlying diseases.
Bloomberg reports, that even though the World Health Organization approved one of Sinopharm’s Covid-19 jabs this month, making it ready to be extensively distributed worldwide through the Covax facility that grants permission to safe and effective vaccines.
Crucial data on another Sinovac shot was released in pre-print form without any official peer-review or publication. Although about 380 million doses have been distributed worldwide, this vaccine has yet to get clearance from the WHO.
(Inputs from the Bloomberg)
