China on Thursday approved its first homemade COVID-19 vaccine for general use, adding another shot that can be widely used in poorer countries as the virus swings back worldwide.
The Sinopharm vaccine has already been given to groups such as health workers and emergency workers under the emergency use guidelines as part of China’s program to vaccinate 50 million people ahead of the New Year holidays in February. But the greetings should make it possible to supply more widely at home, and that will move Beijing closer to being able to send it abroad. This comes one day after UK regulators approved the cheap and easy-to-handle vaccine from AstraZeneca.
Both shots were closely watched by developing countries, many of which could not catch the doses of Pfizer and Moderna by rich countries. Pakistan’s science minister said on Thursday that his government would buy 1.2 million doses of Sinopharm shot, two days after the death toll exceeded 10,000.
In this December 25, 2020 file released by the Xinhua News Agency, a staff member inspects syringes of COVID-19 inactivated vaccine products at a packaging plant of the Beijing Biological Products Institute Co., Ltd., a state-owned unit of Sinopharm. in Beijing. (Zhang Yuwei / Xinhua via AP, File)
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The green light came a day after the state-owned company announced that preliminary data from the last stage of trials showed it was 79.3% effective. The announcement did not specify the size of the control group, how many people were vaccinated and at what point the efficacy rate was reached after the injection, and experts warned that the trial data should be shared.
Officials said the vaccine standards had been developed in ‘close cooperation’ with the World Health Organization. Securing the so-called WHO pre-qualification can reassure the rest of the world about the quality of Chinese vaccines, which already have a reputation problem at home. It will also pave the way for the spread of the shots in the global vaccine consortium, COVAX, and possibly in countries that do not have their own regulatory agencies.
China is eager to send its vaccines worldwide, driven by a desire to repair the image damage caused by the pandemic that erupted in central Wuhan city a year ago.
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Technically, China has given the vaccine conditional approval, which means that research is still ongoing, and that the company must be followed up, as well as reports of adverse effects after the vaccine has been sold on the market, Chen Shifei, the deputy commissioner of the National Medical Products Administration, said at a news conference. The final proof of its effectiveness depends on the publication of more data.
Sinopharm, which is yet another chance to develop, is one of at least five Chinese developers worldwide creating vaccines for the disease that has killed more than 1.8 million people. Although the Pfizer and Moderna shots in the West were greeted with great uproar, the shots had to be stored at ultra-cold or freezer temperature, which complicates the spread.
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The Sinopharm vaccine, like the AstraZeneca, may be easier for countries around the world to handle as it can be stored at normal refrigerator temperatures.
Both shots, as well as the Russian Sputnik, are expected to deliver a large part of the developing world. This means that the cost will also be important. AstraZeneca is expected to cost around $ 2.50 per dose, while Russia has said the doses will cost the world market $ 10. Pfizer’s vaccine costs about $ 20, while Moderna is $ 15 to $ 25, based on agreements with the US government.
Chinese officials did not want to name a specific price and gave conflicting statements about it. One official said it would be affordable for the Chinese public, but another stepped in to explain that it would be free. President Xi Jinping had earlier promised to donate a vaccine manufactured by China to the world as a public good.
The Sinopharm shot is already under mass production, although officials have not answered questions about its current capacity. It has already been approved in the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, and is subsequently used in Morocco.
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Other countries have also purchased doses from another Chinese vaccine candidate, made by Sinovac Biotech. Turkey received 3 million doses this week, and Indonesia and Brazil bought it as well.
Belarus and Argentina both launched mass vaccinations on Wednesday using Russia’s vaccine, and Guinea began giving them to government officials.
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In addition to the emergency vaccinations already underway in China, the country plans to start vaccinating high-risk populations, such as the elderly as well as people with pre-existing chronic diseases. Officials did not say what percentage of the population they will vaccinate in China.
“It’s very exciting that there’s another vaccine that can be spread in places that do not have the cold chain,” Ashley St. said. John, an immunologist at Duke-NUS Medical School in Singapore, said. “But at the same time, we need to temper the excitement. We need to understand the long-term effectiveness, the effects on transmission and the effects on serious diseases.”