Sinopharm’s data release is the first
official announcement of late-stage trial data from a Chinese company on its
vaccine candidates. Its effectiveness rate is behind Moderna’s vaccine, which
was more than 94% effective, and Pfizer’s, which is 95% effective. Scientists
have cautioned that COVID-19 vaccines may only be about as effective as the flu
vaccine, which generally is 50% effective.
However, the final proof of the vaccine’s
effectiveness will depend on publication of scientific data, as the company’s
disclosure did not provide additional information.
State-owned Sinopharm is one of at least
five Chinese developers that are part of a global race to create vaccines for
the disease that has killed 1.8 million people. More than 1 million health care
workers and others in China have received either Sinopharm or another company
Sinovac’s vaccines under emergency approval while testing was underway.
Also Wednesday, Sinovac Biotech Ltd.,
signed an agreement to build a production facility in Beijing for a coronavirus
vaccine with planned annual capacity of 1 billion doses, the newspaper Beijing
Youth News reported.
Sinopharm, or China National Pharmaceutical
Group, has applied for approval of its vaccine following the third and final
stage of testing, a unit of the company, Beijing Biological Products Institute
Ltd., said on its website. It would be the second vaccine from a Sinopharm
unit, following a separate candidate developed by the company’s Wuhan Institute
of Biological Products Ltd.
The Beijing Institute’s vaccine has been
approved by regulatory authorities in the United Arab Emirates. Authorities in
the UAE previously said the vaccine was 86% effective.
The Sinopharm vaccine relies on two doses,
the company said, similar to Western-developed vaccines. The two-sentence
announcement gave no information about side effects, conditions required to
transport and use the vaccine, or other details.
Western-developed vaccines must be kept
frozen at temperatures as low as minus 70 degrees Celsius (minus 94
Fahrenheit). Chinese developers have said theirs can be stored at 2 to 8 C (36
to 46 F).
While the vaccines are not yet available to
the general population, China is in the middle of a huge push to distribute its
vaccines to 50 million people in an emergency use program before the Lunar New
Year holiday when hundreds of millions will travel to be reunited with their
families.
A former Shanghai CDC immunologist and
medical professional Tao Lina, said he got the first dose of Beijing
Institute’s vaccine on Saturday under the emergency use program.
He had “absolutely no adverse reactions,
not even a localized reaction,” he said.
Chinese producers have at least six
possible vaccines in the final stage of clinical trials. They are testing
vaccines in more than a dozen countries, including Russia, Egypt and Mexico.
Few details have been released, leaving experts abroad wondering about
effectiveness and side effects.
Western companies are distributing newly
distributed coronavirus vaccines, but some health experts express concern too
little will be available to poorer countries. China’s government says it will
ensure Chinese-developed vaccines are affordable for developing countries and
has been actively pursuing distribution deals abroad.
Health experts say even if they are
successful, the certification process for the United States, Europe, Japan and
other developed countries might be too complex for Chinese vaccines to be used
there.