The effectiveness of Chinese vaccines against COVID-19 has long been questioned by experts. The latest data will also not make it possible to get rid of them. Chinese preparations are predominantly used in five out of six countries with high levels of infection in recent days, despite high vaccination rates. The analysis was conducted by CNBC journalists.
- Sinopharm and Sinovac preparations made in China are used in dozens of countries around the world
- They dominate the poorer countries of Asia, Africa and South America
- An analysis by CNBC shows that in countries where Chinese preparations are predominantly used, the number of new COVID-19 cases is high, despite the high percentage of vaccinated citizens
- More information can be found on the TvoiLokony home page
Chinese Vaccines and COVID-19 Cases
CNBC looked at data from 36 countries, where on July 6, the number of COVID-19 cases in the last week was over 60 per million inhabitants. Then from this group were selected those countries where more than 19 percent. population received at least one dose of the COVID-XNUMX vaccine. It was based on data from Our World in Data, which collects official information from the World Health Organization, individual governments and scientists from the University of Oxford.
Ultimately, six countries remained: the United Arab Emirates, Seychelles, Mongolia, Uruguay, Chile and the United Kingdom. In the first five, Chinese vaccines are mostly used for vaccination, only the United Kingdom uses other preparations.
In Mongolia, preparations from six manufacturers have been approved for use, but the largest number of doses comes from China. Mongolian state news agency Montsame said in May that the country had received 2,3 million doses of vaccines from the Chinese government company Sinopharm. Last week, 80 people also reached Mongolia. doses of Sputnik V and about 255 thousand. doses of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. In total, 3,8 million doses have been administered so far in this country, more than 63% have received one dose. citizens.
In Chile, 23,4 million doses have been administered so far. According to Reuters information, 16,8 million injections were performed with the Sinovac Biotech preparation from Beijing and 3,9 million with the Pfizer-BioNTech preparation by June. In this country, five vaccines are used for vaccination, two of them come from China, and in addition to Sinovac, CanSino is also used, approved in eight countries.
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The Seychelles was recently very popular in the media due to the high spike in the number of cases. It also excels in the latest ranking, with 7,3 thousand jobs recorded last week there. cases per million inhabitants. One dose in this country received over 72 percent. citizens. There are four preparations in use there – Moderna, Sputnik V, Indian Covishield and Chinese Sinopharm, most injections were made with the latter.
Similarly in the United Arab Emirates. The country was at the forefront of implantation of citizens, at the beginning it was also based on the Chinese Sinopharma.
In turn, in Uruguay, two vaccines are used: Pfizer and Sinovac, with more vaccinations performed with a Chinese product.
Meanwhile, the UK has approved vaccines from Moderna, AstraZeneca, Pfizer-BioNTech and Janssen.
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Which countries have bought Chinese vaccines?
Experts have long questioned the effectiveness of Chinese vaccines. These doubts have returned recently, as there is no information on their effectiveness against the Delta variant. SInovac is approved in 33 countries, Sinopharm in 56. Most are poorer countries that are unable to compete with the richer in the race for vaccines made in the US or Western Europe. Sinopharm has only been bought by five European countries: Hungary, Belarus, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia.
However, some countries are defending themselves against Chinese products. In June, Costa Rica refused to accept a shipment of vaccines from Sinovac, believing they were not effective enough.
Both Chinese vaccines are approved for use by the World Health Organization only “in emergency situations”. The reason, among others insufficient data on efficacy. According to WHO, the Sinopharm vaccine has 79 percent. efficacy against symptomatic COVID-19 infections, but efficacy in certain groups – such as those aged 60 and over – is unclear. In turn, the effectiveness of Sinovac ranges from about 50 to over 80%, depending on the country in which the trials were conducted.
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CNBC journalists asked representatives of Sinopharm and Sinovac for comment, but they were not able to get one.
As experts point out, it is not possible to compare the results of clinical trials of different vaccines because each trial is configured differently. But a study by Hong Kong researchers found that the levels of antibodies in those who received the Pfizer injection were significantly higher than those who received the Sinovac.
The Sinopharm and Sinovac vaccines trigger an immune response by exposing the body to a weakened or inactivated virus – a method that has been used in vaccines for decades. Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna have based their vaccines on RNA technology that instructs the body to produce viral proteins to trigger an immune response.
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“Inactivated vaccines are easy to manufacture and are known to be safe, but they elicit a weaker immune response compared to some other types of vaccine,” writes Michael Head, health researcher at the University of Southampton, in an article posted on The Conversation website.
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However, not everyone questions the effectiveness of Chinese preparations.
“Phase 19 clinical trials have shown that inactivated vaccines are highly effective against severe disease and death from COVID-XNUMX,” Prof. Ben Cowling of the School of Public Health of the University of Hong Kong.
The professor also added that the spikes in COVID-19 in some countries where Chinese vaccines are used “are mostly for mild infections, with very few serious cases in fully vaccinated people.”
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