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China on Thursday approved a coronavirus vaccine developed by state-owned drugmaker Sinopharm, a day after the company reported the shot was 79.3 percent effective in protecting people from the virus, paving the way for millions of Chinese vaccines to enter the global market.
Officials granted conditional authorization for public use of the two-shot vaccine from China National Biotec Group (CNBG), a subsidiary of Sinopharm, an official with China’s National Medical Products Administration said at a media briefing.
The vaccine is the first approved for general use in China, which has largely brought the pandemic under control since the virus emerged there in late 2019. Sinopharm has another vaccine in late-stage trials. Even before regulatory approval, its vaccines had already been used on almost 1 million Chinese citizens by November under an emergency use program for high-risk groups.
On Wednesday, CNBG reported results based on interim analysis from Phase 3 trials. In a brief statement on the website of the Beijing Institute of Biological Products, a CNBG unit, the company did not give key details, including the sample size tested or number of infections in the trial or side effects.
U.K. authorizes Oxford-AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine
The company said that the two-shot regimen proved “safe” and that those who received it produced a high level of antibodies against the virus.
As coronavirus cases continue to surge globally, a huge emergency vaccination drive is underway, with drug developers and governments racing to get their vaccines approved. On Wednesday, the British government said its regulator had approved a vaccine developed by the University of Oxford and AstraZeneca for emergency use.
The Sinopharm vaccine appears to be less effective than those developed by Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech, which have shown an efficacy rate of 95 percent. According to interim data, the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine was 62 percent effective for those given two full doses.
The vaccine was 90 percent effective for a subgroup that received a half dose followed by a full dose, but British regulators said the results of a half-dose regimen could not yet be supported.
The efficacy rate announced by Sinopharm is also lower than the 86 percent rate reported by officials in the United Arab Emirates after clinical trials of the vaccine conducted there. Sinopharm did not release data accounting for the discrepancy.
Coronavirus vaccine from China’s Sinopharm is 86% effective, UAE officials say
The approval and rollout of the Sinopharm vaccine will bolster China’s public health diplomacy drive. Beijing has held up its vaccines as a key part of its partnerships with developing countries, many of which have struggled to buy supplies of other newly released vaccines. The vaccine has been approved for use in the United Arab Emirates, as well as Bahrain.
“China’s attention is not on ‘vaccine race,’ let alone so-called ‘vaccine diplomacy,’ but on the common interests of all humanity,” the state-run Global Times said in a Dec. 14 editorial.
Both Sinopharm vaccines use an inactivated version of the virus to trigger an immune response, unlike the mRNA vaccines developed by Pfizer and Moderna, which use new technology. It does not need to be frozen, making for easier storage and distribution.
Sinopharm, one of China’s largest drugmakers, said in October that it may be able to produce 1 billion doses by the end of 2021.
China is battling clusters of new locally transmitted coronavirus cases across the country and working to keep the virus contained ahead of the Lunar Near Year holiday, when hundreds of millions crisscross the country. Health officials said they plan to vaccinate 50 million people in China by mid-January, before the holiday begins.
Officials granted conditional authorization for public use of the two-shot vaccine from China National Biotec Group (CNBG), a subsidiary of Sinopharm, an official with China’s National Medical Products Administration said at a media briefing.
The vaccine is the first approved for general use in China, which has largely brought the pandemic under control since the virus emerged there in late 2019. Sinopharm has another vaccine in late-stage trials. Even before regulatory approval, its vaccines had already been used on almost 1 million Chinese citizens by November under an emergency use program for high-risk groups.
On Wednesday, CNBG reported results based on interim analysis from Phase 3 trials. In a brief statement on the website of the Beijing Institute of Biological Products, a CNBG unit, the company did not give key details, including the sample size tested or number of infections in the trial or side effects.
U.K. authorizes Oxford-AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine
The company said that the two-shot regimen proved “safe” and that those who received it produced a high level of antibodies against the virus.
As coronavirus cases continue to surge globally, a huge emergency vaccination drive is underway, with drug developers and governments racing to get their vaccines approved. On Wednesday, the British government said its regulator had approved a vaccine developed by the University of Oxford and AstraZeneca for emergency use.
The Sinopharm vaccine appears to be less effective than those developed by Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech, which have shown an efficacy rate of 95 percent. According to interim data, the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine was 62 percent effective for those given two full doses.
The vaccine was 90 percent effective for a subgroup that received a half dose followed by a full dose, but British regulators said the results of a half-dose regimen could not yet be supported.
The efficacy rate announced by Sinopharm is also lower than the 86 percent rate reported by officials in the United Arab Emirates after clinical trials of the vaccine conducted there. Sinopharm did not release data accounting for the discrepancy.
Coronavirus vaccine from China’s Sinopharm is 86% effective, UAE officials say
The approval and rollout of the Sinopharm vaccine will bolster China’s public health diplomacy drive. Beijing has held up its vaccines as a key part of its partnerships with developing countries, many of which have struggled to buy supplies of other newly released vaccines. The vaccine has been approved for use in the United Arab Emirates, as well as Bahrain.
“China’s attention is not on ‘vaccine race,’ let alone so-called ‘vaccine diplomacy,’ but on the common interests of all humanity,” the state-run Global Times said in a Dec. 14 editorial.
Both Sinopharm vaccines use an inactivated version of the virus to trigger an immune response, unlike the mRNA vaccines developed by Pfizer and Moderna, which use new technology. It does not need to be frozen, making for easier storage and distribution.
Sinopharm, one of China’s largest drugmakers, said in October that it may be able to produce 1 billion doses by the end of 2021.
China is battling clusters of new locally transmitted coronavirus cases across the country and working to keep the virus contained ahead of the Lunar Near Year holiday, when hundreds of millions crisscross the country. Health officials said they plan to vaccinate 50 million people in China by mid-January, before the holiday begins.
