Government defines final details for Sinopharm vaccine purchase – Telam

With more than 100,000 Argentines already immunized with Sputnik V and the arrival of more doses from Russia, the national government is working out the final details of the purchase of another large batch of vaccines, those produced by the pharmaceutical company D ‘Chinese state Sinopharm.

The vaccine also known as China National Biotech Group, the largest company of its kind in this country, He is expected for the last ten days of January, transferred by an Aerolineas Argentinas flight, as sources close to the negotiation revealed to Telam.

The purchase operation could reach a million doses, a very large quantity which will require special packaging for the Aerolineas aircraft transporting the vaccines on the Buenos Aires-Beijing route. Initially, the trip is scheduled for January 20 Official sources told Telam, who explained that the flight must have a very rigid set of clearances due to the strong control of commercial aviation activity in the Chinese capital since the start of the pandemic.

the negociation

Negotiate with Sinopharm for the acquisition of such a large number of vaccines, in a context of tendering and strong international demand, This follows an exchange of letters between President Alberto Fernández and Chinese President Xi Jinping.

In one of the sections of the letter to the president, the Chinese head of state underlined his country’s desire to strengthen cooperation with Argentina in the application of vaccines against Covid-19, according to the agency. Asian Country’s official press release, Xinhua.

Thursday, from the Malbrán Institute, the Minister of Health, Ginés González García, reported publicly on the progress of the talks with Sinopharm.

“We are negotiating with China a million doses for January and (also) with Brazil, which produces another of the Chinese development vaccines,” he said, referring to vaccines developed by Sinopharm and another laboratory Chinese, Sinovac, which manufactures in Brazil, another vaccination against the coronavirus, in this case with the Butantan Institute of the State of São Paulo.

Transfer

Airline travel looking for the Sinopharm vaccine lot it will have to overcome administrative and regulatory complexities, since the national carrier has never operated the direct Buenos Aires-Beijing route.

Medical flights with the Airbus 330-200 in April 2020 in search of sanitary supplies made in China (respirators and chin straps, center) were carried out via the Buenos Aires-Shanghai route with an intermediate stopover in Auckland, New Zealand. Zealand.

Since the start of the pandemic, China has concentrated all commercial aviation trade with foreign countries in the coastal cities of Shanghai and Guangzhou, with a few exceptions, for security reasons.

Sinopharm vaccine

The vaccine developed by Sinopharm, headquartered in Beijing itself, is identified by the acronym BBIBP-CorV, works from an inactivated virus (it uses the dead version of the germ that causes the disease) and compared to other immunizations it has a peculiarity that could be considered a logistical advantage: For storage, preservation and transport does not need refrigeration below 0 degrees Celsius, but rather it requires temperatures of 2 to 8 degrees, conditions that a common refrigerator can provide.

On another side, Phase 3 clinical trials of the vaccine created by the Sinopharm group took place at the same time in Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Morocco, Serbia, Jordan, Peru, Pakistan and also in Argentina.

In early December, the vaccine of Chinese origin has been approved and registered in the United Arab Emirates (United States) as part of the third phase studies in that country, and the health ministry in that country has indicated that it has demonstrated “86% effectiveness” and has approved the initiation of a vaccination of mass.

In Argentina, the Sinopharm vaccine trials had 3,008 volunteers who participated in what is called a “randomized study”, that is, they receive a random vaccine or a placebo, without the volunteer. or the research team knows at the time of inoculation.

These tests were carried out by the Vacunar network and the Huissa Foundation, associated with the ELEA laboratory as a local sponsor, a company that is part of the Insud group of businessman Hugo Sigman.

Regarding these tests, specialist doctor Pedro Cahn, from the Fundación Host, assured Telam that studies of the Sinopharm vaccine with Argentinian volunteers they were “extremely confident”.

“Regarding the effectiveness, I still cannot answer, because we still do not have the results, although studies carried out in China and the United Arab Emirates show a vaccine efficacy of 79.8% “, he pointed.

However, “what I can talk about is safety, and so far we have not seen any serious side effects from the vaccine. We only record simple side effects that occur with all vaccinations, such as pain at the injection site, mild fever, or a feeling of the flu that lasts less than 24 hours. ” Detailed Cahn.

“So far, we have not seen serious vaccine-related side effects. We only record simple side effects that occur in all vaccinations.”“

Pedro Cahn

In addition, the infectologist and scientific director of the Guest Foundation said that the entity is coordinating the medical trial of a second vaccine against Covid-19 developed by a Chinese company, although in this case associated with the National Research Council from Canada, hence the name CanSino Biologics, which operates from “an adenovirus platform identical to the second dose of the vaccine created by the Gamaleya Institute”, referring to the Russian Sputnik.

In Argentina, the emergency approval of the Sinopharm vaccine, given the context of the pandemic, could be finalized in the coming days, but the official validation will depend on how the purchase of the million doses is carried out.

In the event that the acquisition is made through the purchase of a pharmaceutical laboratory operating in Argentina, the approval will be formalized within the framework of the provisions of Annex I, point 5, of the ANMAT 705 provision. / 05, which authorizes the registration of vaccines in emergency situations.

If the purchase is made from one state to another, the authorization will be given by the Ministry of Health, with a recommendation to this effect from the ANMAT, in accordance with law 27573 (known as the law on vaccines intended to generate immunity against Covid-19). This is what happened with the Sputnik vaccine, created by the Gamaleya Center in Russia.