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China Medicine

Sinopharm: Chinese Covid Vaccine Gets WHO Emergency Approval (bbc.co.uk) 128

AmiMoJo shares a report from the BBC: The World Health Organization (WHO) has granted emergency approval for the Covid vaccine made by Chinese state-owned company Sinopharm. It is the first vaccine developed by a non-Western country to get WHO backing. The vaccine has already been given to millions of people in China and elsewhere. The WHO had previously only approved the vaccines made by Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson and Moderna.

With little data released internationally early on, the effectiveness of the various Chinese vaccines has long been uncertain. But the WHO on Friday said it had validated the "safety, efficacy and quality" of the Sinopharm jab. The WHO said the addition of the vaccine had "the potential to rapidly accelerate Covid-19 vaccine access for countries seeking to protect health workers and populations at risk." It is recommending that the vaccine be administered in two doses to those aged 18 and over. A decision is expected in the coming days on another Chinese vaccine developed by Sinovac, while Russia's Sputnik vaccine is under assessment.

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Sinopharm: Chinese Covid Vaccine Gets WHO Emergency Approval

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  • Some quick info (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Okian Warrior ( 537106 ) on Friday May 07, 2021 @08:55PM (#61361144) Homepage Journal

    From the WHO website:

    As of 18 February 2021, at least seven different vaccines across three platforms have been rolled out in countries. Vulnerable populations in all countries are the highest priority for vaccination. At the same time, more than 200 additional vaccine candidates are in development, of which more than 60 are in clinical development.

    WHO has also listed the Pfizer/BioNTech, Astrazeneca-SK Bio, Serum Institute of India, Janssen and Moderna vaccines for emergency use.

    Over 200 vaccine candidates in development.

    Nice.

  • So now that an alternative to the USA's big pharma is being rolled out, it gives people an ability to 'vote with their feet'. Only I've read that test results in Chile are that Sinovac is only SIXTEEN percent effective in the first dose, and that full vacination only brings it up to the SIXTIES percent range, not seventies.

    Yeah, I think most people, who have a choice anyway, are going to want to stick to big-pharma's solutions rather than run out for Sinovac or Sputnik V. I mean look, even non-US-backed (Ox

    • by fred6666 ( 4718031 ) on Friday May 07, 2021 @09:39PM (#61361228)

      What you call the USA vaccine are developed in Germany (BioNTech), Netherlands(Johnson and Johnson).
      Only Moderna is a real US vaccine, and the CEO is French.

      • What I call the USA vaccines are the ones made in no small part with USA money and especially ones currently approved for use in the USA (basically the three everyone in the USA is familiar with). All of which are most definitely produced by what people would call Big Pharma.

        I admit that AstraZenica also was part of Operation Warp Speed (I was trying to avoid mentioning to avoid where that discussion could lead) but considering the UK's apparent preference for that one, and that some developing countries ar

        • What I call the USA vaccines are the ones made in no small part with USA money ...

          You mean when the US gov't speculatively bought doses before safety and efficacy were known. To get the doses in the field as soon as possible.

          • As did most other well-off countries because it was the only sensible thing to do.

          • You mean when the US gov't speculatively bought doses before safety and efficacy were known.

            Which vaccines were those? The US government committed to buying vaccines that received approval: ie. those with proven safety and efficacy.

        • Moderna wasn't Big Pharma before 2020. They never got any other drug approved. They are an outlier.
          Johnson&Jonhons is Big Pharma, but again, it's their first approved vaccine.

  • by fred6666 ( 4718031 ) on Friday May 07, 2021 @09:36PM (#61361226)

    Where are the peer reviewed results?

    • Where are the peer reviewed results?

      You don't really need peer reviewed studies when half the nation (and counting) participates in the vaccine trials. Statistics is really for when you examine a (hopefully) representative sample, not so much nearly the entire population.

      And yes I am part of that trial. By the time my age bracket qualified we had a sufficient amount of "anecdotal" data (hundred+ million vaccinated, deaths literally 1 in a million). That's better odds than catching covid and surviving.

      • well good then, why can't day synthethise what they observed from their million vaccinated and put that into a peer-reviewed journal?
        Half of which nation by the way? Definitely not China.
        What is the efficacy rate? And no, I do not trust an efficacy rate from a marketing pamphlet. If their phase 3 study is valid, they should be able to publish it.

    • by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      The Lancet. https://www.thelancet.com/jour... [thelancet.com]

      There was also the paper "evelopment of an inactivated vaccine Candidate, BBIBp-CorV, with potent protection against SARS- COV-2" published in Cell, but it doesn't seem to be online.

      • Good start but this is phase 1/2. Other vaccine makers have published phase 3 results in peer-reviewed journals.

        • by Wolfier ( 94144 )

          This. Not having Peer-reviewed/scrutinized Phase 3 results basically says "well it is probably safe, but not sure whether's it's effective at all, please be my guinea pig".

  • by Wolfier ( 94144 ) on Saturday May 08, 2021 @01:07AM (#61361614)

    I don't know much about Sinopharm, but another Chinese vaccine "Coronavac" from the company Sinovac, is widely believed to be dangerous AND low in efficacy:

    Low efficacy in Brazil study (50% - almost like flipping a coin)
    https://www.bbc.com/news/world... [bbc.com]

    Large Coronavac rollout in Chile...and it did not help
    https://www.cnbc.com/2021/04/1... [cnbc.com]

    Deaths after receiving Coronavac shots
    https://in.news.yahoo.com/covi... [yahoo.com]

    Note: I still believe getting vaccinated is the right thing to do - just be selective and say NO to low quality vaccines with half-assed phase 3 data and questionable safety.

    • I would not touch a Chinese vaccine. The government controls all major Chinese companies, and the communist bandits have a well established record for obfuscation.

      China as a country is neither a friend nor partner. The less business we do with that murderous regime the better.

    • by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      If you read the BBC article claiming 50% efficacy you will see that actually it was about 76% effective at preventing severe symptoms. As for safety, more people have died taking the AstraZenica vaccine due to blood clots. So if you think that is "questionable safety" you had better not take AZ or J&J either.

      While less than ideal the fact that it is available in large quantities to developing nations makes it very valuable. China has exported more doses than anyone else (as well as vaccinating hundreds

      • Unlike Coronavac, AZ submitted complete phase 3 trial result to WHO a while ago.

        If you ask me, I'd stay away from all 3 you mentioned. J&J, AZ and anything from Sinovac - but gun to my head, AZ over Coronavac, easy choice.

    • The problem obviously lies with Western medicine which is needlessly complex, dangerous and ineffective. Chinese traditional medicine cured COVID in China using highly effective compounds sourced from the local zoo.

    • A 50% efficacy is better than 0%. Given the choice of not having a vaccine at all, and getting this one in question I'm sure the latter is a good (though not the most cost effective if another vaccine needs to be administered later when available) to dealing with a pandemic.

      As for your link to deaths, we can literally auto generate that article now. Here's a template: "Another ${Country} citizen has died after receiveing the ${COVIDVaccineName} vaccine". Literally every one of these vaccines has lead to dea

      • by rikkards ( 98006 )

        Hell I live in Canada and in about a week will have access to Pfizer but got the AZ 2 weeks ago.
        Why? Why not. People over 50 were playing vaccine bingo and canceling AZ apts if they got access to Pfizer. I decided that because it is being made available to me now I would take it now. If it means someone else gets access to Pfizer instead that's ok.

        Regarding the topic I am sure Trudeau will love this since he seems to have an infatuation with the CCP (the liberal party seems to have gone that way since Chret

      • by Wolfier ( 94144 )

        > If you let perfect be the enemy of good enough then you won't defeat a pandemic.

        I never let perfect be the enemy of the good, in this case I'm afraid we're actually looking at the good vs the mediocre.

    • Well, there's also:
      Philippine President Asks China To Take Back Donated Sinopharm Vaccines - Reports
      https://www.bbc.com/news/world... [bbc.com]
  • their shitty vaccines. [hrw.org]

    Sometimes the veil slips too. [bbc.com]

    Gao Fu, head of the Chinese Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, on Saturday said at a conference the current vaccines "don't have very high rates of protection".

    ...

    Mr Gao's original and later comments have been largely unreported by Chinese media.

    His original comments however, attracted some criticism on social media site Weibo, with commenters suggesting that he should "stop talking".

  • At only 50^+ effectiveness that is so bad that countries like Brazil and others have refused it, no one but North Korea, and Iran and other regimes of the same ilk will allow it in their borders. I guess it will be allowed in the USA since we don't have any borders.
  • Either the approval process is required for a vaccine to be safe, or the approval process is redundant and unnecessary and should be cut. If its the former, then the vaccine may be dangerous. If itâ(TM)s the latter, they the approval process is a waste of time and money. Pick one, you canâ(TM)t have both.

A committee takes root and grows, it flowers, wilts and dies, scattering the seed from which other committees will bloom. -- Parkinson

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