Turkey gets the first shot, which is 91.25 percent effective in trials
Nurse Arzu Yildirim (center) will administer a dose of Chinese Sinovac coronavirus vaccines on Monday during phase III clinical trials at Acibadem Hospital in Istanbul, Turkey. EMRAH GUREL / AP
ANKARA – Turkey will receive its first shipment of Chinese Sinovac coronavirus vaccines within days as preliminary domestic tests have shown it to be 91 percent effective and become the latest country to welcome Chinese scientific medical breakthroughs.
“We are confident that the vaccine is effective and safe for Turkish people,” Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said at a news conference on Thursday.
The initial vaccine protection rate is 91.25 percent, and no major side effects were seen during their trial, Koca said.
The first shipment of 3 million doses of the Chinese vaccine was expected to arrive in Turkey Monday after the Turkish government signed an agreement to purchase up to 50 million doses. All those doses will eventually arrive in the country in late February.
The primary group to be vaccinated will be the health workers, and the injections can be applied to about 1.5 million or even 2 million people daily, Koca said, adding that he will be one of the pioneers in taking the Chinese. vaccine.
In Asia, on December 13, Bahrain said it had approved a COVID-19 vaccine developed by the China National Pharmaceutical Group (Sinopharm) and launched an online registration for the vaccine for citizens and residents.
A statement from the National Health Regulatory Authority did not specify which of the two vaccines being developed by Sinopharm had received approval, but it cited data from Phase III clinical trials showing 86 percent efficacy in which Bahrain participated.
Bahrain’s Ministry of Health said in a statement and on its Instagram account that citizens and residents over the age of 18 could register online to receive the vaccine for free.
The data quoted was the same as announced by the United Arab Emirates earlier this month based on an interim analysis of late-stage clinical trials for an inactivated vaccine developed by the Beijing Institute of Biological Product, a unit of Sinopharm’s China National Biotec Group, or CNBG.
Malaysia said the government is now in the latest negotiations with China-based manufacturers Sinovac and CanSino to secure doses of the vaccine to cover a greater proportion of the population.
‘A historic day’
In Latin America, Brazil’s Butantan Institute announced on Wednesday that the CoronaVac vaccine, developed by China’s Sinovac, has reached a level of efficacy against the coronavirus required by the World Health Organization in trials involving 13,000 Brazilian volunteers.
The data confirmed that the vaccine is “the safest on the market” and has achieved the superiority in efficacy required by WHO and the Brazilian Health Regulatory Agency (Anvisa), said Dimas Covas, director of the institute.
“We have reached the level of effectiveness that allows us to apply for emergency use registration of the vaccine both here and in China,” said Covas.
“It is a historic day for Brazilian science because of the hope it brings to Brazilians.”
Brazil’s Ministry of Health also expects to have at least 150 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines available by the first half of 2021, a third or more of which will come from Sinovac.
Arnaldo Medeiros, a health ministry official, said on Tuesday that an initial deal to acquire 46 million doses of the vaccine developed by Sinovac could soon be expanded to 100 million doses.
In Mexico, a coronavirus vaccine developed by China’s CanSino Biologics will be submitted for review by Mexican health regulator Cofepris on Tuesday for its application, Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard said.
In Africa, Egypt received the first batch of the Chinese coronavirus vaccine on December 11 to help combat the COVID-19 epidemic.
The priority in distributing the vaccine would be given to medical personnel in isolated hospitals, people with chronic illnesses such as cancer and kidney failure, and the elderly, for free, said Egyptian Health Minister Hala Zayed.
“It is a historic day to receive the first air shipments of the Chinese anti-coronavirus vaccine,” Zayed said at a press conference at Cairo International Airport.
Xinhua – Agencies
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