China’s Sinopharm says its coronavirus vaccine is 79% effective

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Interim analysis of Phase 3 clinical trials shows that the vaccine is safe and people who have received two doses have produced high-level antibodies, according to a statement released Wednesday by Beijing Biological Products Institute Co., a subsidiary of Sinopharm.

The company said it is seeking official approval from Chinese regulators to distribute the vaccine to the public.

The coronavirus vaccines developed by Sinopharm have already been administered to hundreds of thousands of people in a controversial emergency use program approved by the Chinese government.

By November, nearly a million people had received a Sinopharm vaccine, according to the company’s president, although he did not specify which of the company’s two vaccines they received.

Although few details were provided, the statement released on Wednesday said the vaccine meets the standards of the World Health Organization and China’s national regulatory authority, the National Medical Administration.

The Sinopharm vaccine is less effective than those developed by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna, which have an efficacy rate of about 95%. The Russian Sputnik V vaccine is 91% effective.
And the vaccine’s effectiveness rate of 79% is less than the 86% announced by the United Arab Emirates for the same vaccine on December 9th. The UAE based its results on an interim analysis of late-stage clinical trials conducted there since July. He has since approved the vaccine for public use.
The Sinopharm vaccine has a higher efficacy rate than that developed by Oxford University in the United Kingdom and AstraZeneca, which had an average of 70%. On Wednesday, the United Kingdom became the first country to approve that vaccine for public distribution.

One step closer to the massive launch

Sinopharm’s results were announced a few weeks after its global competitors. And with a lack of details, it remains unclear whether the information provided will be enough to dispel skepticism about the quality of Chinese vaccines.

However, the announcement could pave the way for the widespread launch of the vaccine both in China and globally.

The country aims to inoculate 50 million people with homemade Covid-19 vaccines before the February New Year holidays in February, a Chinese vaccination expert confirmed to CNN earlier this month.
China has promised millions of coronavirus vaccines to countries around the world. And he is ready to deliver them

China is ready to send hundreds of millions of doses to countries that have conducted state-of-the-art studies for its top vaccine candidates. Chinese leaders also promised a growing list of priority access for developing countries.

Beijing is using the global campaign as a soft power tool, analysts say, to try to repair any damage to its image due to improper handling of the coronavirus pandemic.

China has five coronavirus candidates from four companies that have reached phase 3 clinical trials, the last and most important step in testing before seeking regulatory approval. After largely eliminating the spread of coronavirus within its borders, Chinese drug manufacturers have had to look abroad for places to test the effectiveness of their vaccines. Together, they launched phase 3 studies in at least 16 countries.

The two Sinopharm vaccine candidates are undergoing phase 3 studies in 10 countries, especially in the Middle East and South America.

Liu Jingzhen, president of Sinopharm, said last month that dozens of countries had applied to buy the company’s vaccines. He did not mention the countries or explain the amount of doses they proposed, but said CNBG is capable of producing more than a billion doses in 2021.

Compared to Pfizer and Moderna, Sinopharm vaccines do not require freezing temperatures for storage, facilitating transport and distribution – especially in developing countries that do not have cold storage capacity.

The CNN office in Beijing contributed to the reporting.

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