BEIJING (Reuters) – Different efficacy results for a Chinese COVID-19 vaccine released separately in China and the United Arab Emirates are both real and valid, an executive at China National Biotec Group (CNBG) told state media said.
China on Thursday approved its first COVID-19 vaccine for general use, a shot developed by a subsidiary of state-subsidized Sinopharm, after the developer said the vaccine showed 79.34% efficacy based on an interim analysis of clinical trials in the late stage.
The rate is lower than the 86% rate for the same vaccine reported on December 9 by the United Arab Emirates.
Countries have certain differences in their standards and procedures in diagnosing patients, and the final results of the COVID-19 identification of cases were different, Yang Xiaoming, chair of Sinopharm unit at CNBG, told Global Times, a tabloid published by the People’s Daily, the official newspaper. of China’s ruling Communist Party.
“Therefore, there were differences between the comprehensive data from more countries that we reviewed and the protection figures data that were previously evaluated by the UAE and Bahrain,” the Global Times quoted in a report published on Thursday.
“But these two results are genuine and valid,” Yang said without giving further information for the data.
CNBG did not participate in the analysis or review of data on clinical trials released by regulators in countries where the vaccine is being tested, Yang said.
The vaccine, developed by the CNBG unit Beijing Biological Products Institute, together with another candidate from a Wuhan-based unit of CNBG, is being tested in Phase III clinical trials outside China.
The trials for CNBG candidates recruited more than 60,000 participants between the ages of 18-60, Yang said.
Reporting by Roxanne Liu and Ryan Woo; Edited by Kim Coghill