China plans to vaccinate 50 million people before the Chinese New Year.
The vaccine produced by the Chinese pharmaceutical giant Sinopharm is 79.43% effective.
Interim analysis of phase 3 clinical trials shows that the vaccine is safe and that people who received two doses produced high levels of antibodies, according to Beijing Biological Products Institute Co., a subsidiary of Sinopharm.
Sinopharm said they are awaiting formal approval from Chinese regulators to distribute the vaccine to the public.
The vaccine has already been administered to hundreds of thousands of people under an emergency program approved by the Chinese government.
By November, nearly 1 million people had received the vaccine.
According to the few details provided, the vaccine follows the guidelines and safety standards of the World Health Organization and the Chinese regulator.
The Chinese vaccine is less effective than those produced by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna, which have an efficacy rate of about 95%, while the Russian Sputnik V vaccine has an efficacy of 91%. The vaccine produced by Oxford University and AstraZeneca is 70% effective.
Its efficacy is, therefore, lower than what was announced by the United Arab Emirates last December 9. The results from the UAE dated back to July.
China is poised to send hundreds of millions of doses to the 16 countries that conducted the last phase of trials since the coronavirus is scarcely present within the country’s borders.
Compared to Pfizer’s and Moderna’s vaccines, Sinopharm’s vaccine does not require special freezing temperatures for storage, making transport and distribution easier, especially in developing countries.
Table of Contents
Post Author
