The ManicaPost
China has made huge strides in the production of Covid-19 vaccines, with Zimbabwe having received 200 000 doses of the Sinopharm vaccine early this week.
Here is what you need to know about the vaccine.
How does the Sinopharm vaccine work?
Developed by scientists at China’s state-owned pharmaceutical enterprise, the vaccine follows the tried-and-tested route of training the body’s immune system to detect and destroy viruses using injections of deactivated virus.
For the Covid-19 coronavirus, researchers used a compound which stops the virus from replicating, but still allow it to trigger a response from the immune system.
The deactivated virus method has been safely used for decades to create vaccines against viruses ranging from influenza and polio to rabies.
How is it given?
By injection into a muscle — usually in the upper arm. Because the virus has been deactivated, the body’s response is relatively weak, so two injections are needed over 28 days. Like all the other vaccines, it requires two doses.
How do we know it’s safe and effective?
In April, Chinese officials approved small trials in volunteers to check that the vaccine triggered an immune response without serious side-effects.
The results — published in the respected medical journal The Lancet-led to approval for a far larger “Phase III” study in collaboration with the UAE.
Since September, 31 000 volunteers from 125 nations in the age-range 18 to 60 have been given the vaccine.
According to the UAE health ministry, the vaccine is 86 per cent effective in preventing Covid-19, and 100 per cent effective in preventing moderate or severe cases of the disease.
But on December 30, 2020, Sinopharm announced that phase three trials of the vaccine showed that it was 79 per cent effective.
The results also showed that the vaccine successfully triggered an immune system response in 99 percent of patients — but without any serious side-effects.
Further studies are continuing in the UAE and elsewhere, including Jordan, Brazil, Morocco and Serbia.
Which countries are signing up for China’s vaccines?
Several Asian countries including Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines have signed deals with Sinovac, and in January 2021 Indonesia began rolling out its mass vaccination campaign with their vaccine.
Turkey has also approved the Sinovac vaccine for emergency use.
The company is also known to have secured other deals with Brazil and Chile.
The United Arab Emirates and Bahrain have approved the Sinopharm vaccine. — thenationalnews.com
