A health worker in Peru prepares a syringe on December 9 to inoculate a volunteer with the Sinopharm vaccine.
Photographer: Ernesto Benavides / AFP / Getty Images
Photographer: Ernesto Benavides / AFP / Getty Images
State-sponsored vaccine developer China National Biotec Group Co. said one of its injections is effective in preventing Covid-19 in 79.3% of people, allowing it to seek permission to market the inoculation for use in the general population.
The interim data shows that the vaccine, which is already approved for emergency use in China, is safe and that people who took the shots during the study all generated high levels of antibodies, according to a statement posted on the website of Beijing Biological Products Institute Co., a subsidiary of CNBG’s parent company Sinopharm.
The rate for the vaccine – one of two developed by CNBG – meets the minimum standard of 50% efficacy set by U.S. regulators for emergency authorization of Covid vaccines. Vaccines using the very latest messenger RNA technology from Moderna Inc. and Pfizer Inc. has shown much better results by reducing symptomatic cases of Covid by more than 90% in giant studies.
The CNBG intake rate announced Wednesday is also lower than what was reported from trials of the vaccine in the United Arab Emirates, which put the level of protection at 86%.
CNBG, die filed an application with Chinese regulatory authorities for the vaccine last month, could become the first developer outside of Russia to see its shots available for general public use, underscoring China’s determination to be a key player in the supply from vaccinations to countries around the world. Other countries have given the green light to allow Western vaccines to compete only for emergencies.
China is struggling to make the world rely on its vaccines
Still, China faces a challenge to assure governments and the millions of people who must rely on its vaccines of their safety and efficacy. Chinese developers have been slow compared to their Western peers in releasing data, threatening to erode confidence in these candidates as the world focuses on which vaccines are most successful in fighting the pandemic.
The lack of transparency was evident last week, trials with a vaccine from Chinese developer Sinovac Biotech Ltd. confusing results as to how effective it is in protecting people from Covid-19.
A Brazilian official said the Sinovac injection did not achieve 90% efficacy, while Turkey said a trial in his country showed a rate of 91%. Sinovac is still reconciling the results of independent phase III studies conducted in Brazil, Turkey, Indonesia and Chile, a person familiar with the studies said last week.
Both Sinopharm and Sinovac are betting on successful vaccines to inoculate more people around the world and save lives. The Chinese vaccines could also help their homeland gain geopolitical clout and restore the image tainted by the criticism of the initial response to the virus.
Worldwide promise
China has agreed to supply its vaccines to Covax, a World Health Organization-backed effort to provide vaccinations to developing countries. The Chinese vaccines have the advantage of being easier to store and distribute, because they don’t need to be frozen – unlike those from Pfizer and Moderna. They can be stored at normal refrigerator temperatures, making distribution to rural areas and developing countries easier.
CNBG, a state-owned company that has a dominant share of the Chinese vaccine market, was one of the first in the world to push experimental injections into the crucial final stage of human testing in April. The company’s research institutes have developed two injections of an inactivated version of the virus to boost the immune response, an approach widely adopted by many of the existing vaccines used to prevent disease around the world.
CNBG has vaccine supply agreements with several developing countries, including Malaysia, Brazil, Pakistan and the UAE, according to public reports prepared by Bloomberg. Leading Western developers such as AstraZeneca Plc and Pfizer have entered into agreements with many more countries.
More than 5.1 million shots delivered: Covid-19 Vaccine Tracker
Despite the fact that China’s vaccines have not yet received regulatory approval for widespread use, doses have been given to hundreds of thousands of people in China as part of an emergency program since the middle of the year. This has raised concerns among scientists about potential risks associated with the use of shots, the safety and efficacy of which have yet to be thoroughly studied.
About one million Chinese have already received vaccinations on Dec. 19, a large proportion of the more than 5.1 million shots administered around the world to date, according to data collected by Bloomberg.
– With the help of Emma O’Brien and Claire Che
(Adds background information to other Chinese shots from the fifth paragraph)