United Arab Emirates: apply a third dose of Sinopharm to those who have not generated antibodies

The health authorities of The United Arab Emirates (UAE) today announced that it has started applying a third dose of the Sinopharm vaccine (China) to people who have not generated enough antibodies to deal with Covid-19. This vaccine is one of three available in Argentina and with which people between the ages of 18 and 59 started getting vaccinated a week ago.

As Farida Al Hosani, spokesperson for the UAE Ministry of Health, explained to local media The National: “Some people have received a third dose of the Sinopharm Covid-19 vaccine, but the number is small in comparison with those who received doses one and two ”.

The UAE was one of the countries where the vaccine was first approved for use. The rest were places in the world where the phase 3 clinical trial is taking place, which will last a year, were Morocco, Argentina and China.

The vaccine in question has its origin and is developed by the Beijing Institute of Biologics for 11 months in humans, and a few weeks after the declaration of a pandemic of the new coronavirus.

The results of phases 1 and 2 showed that the vaccine is more effective when given in two doses. With the results Partial phase 3, where the sample was enlarged to thousands of volunteers in different parts of the world, the company announced that the vaccine had an effectiveness close to 80% (79.34%).

In the case of Argentina Phase 3 of the clinical trial took place in Argentina and the study is being led by Fundación Hupedes, which recruited 3,000 volunteers from the Buenos Aires Metropolitan Area (AMBA). The trial began in September and half of the participants received both doses of the vaccine, while the other half received a placebo.

Asked about the strategy, Eduardo López, doctor specializing in infectious diseases and head of the medical service of the Ricardo Gutiérrez children’s hospital, said THE NATION: “The third dose is an option to consider in vaccines equipped with Sinopharm technology. It is a vaccine which has the same component in both doses because it is an inactivated virus. Therefore a third dose can be given“.

“The biggest problem with this is that the inactivated viral vaccine doesn’t boost memory immunity T cells much. This is the problem with inactivated virus vaccines. This is why they require multiple doses. The strategy is therefore not bad, ”said the doctor who is part of the expert committee advising the government during the pandemic.

López recalled: “If you read the article from phases I and II published in The Lancet says they haven’t studied T cells, the topic is up for discussion, It is known that inactivated viral vaccines do not stimulate memory immunity in T cells. Therefore, they require multiple doses.“.

Argentina received one million doses of Sinopharm

On February 21, 17 days ago and only two days after taking office as Minister of Health, Carla Vizzotti gave the green light for the emergency authorization of the Sinopharm vaccine after the suggestion of the National Administration of drugs, food and medical technology (Anmat) which advocated the use of people aged 18 to 59 years.

Four days later, one million doses of the Chinese-made vaccine arrived in the country and it was decided that due to the limits established by the ANMAT, they would be allocated to teachers, security forces, health personnel up to 59 years old and people with risk factors between 18 and 59 years old .

So far, according to official data, 182,125 first doses of Sinopharm have already been applied in the country.

How the vaccine works