Peruvian study finds Sinopharm’s 50.4% COVID vaccine effective against infections

LIMA / BEIJING, Aug. 13 (Reuters) – A two-dose COVID-19 vaccine from Chinese company Sinopharm was 50.4% effective in preventing infections among health workers in Peru as it saw an increase in cases fueled by virus variants, and booster shots may be considered, study finds.

The study involving Sinopharm’s BBIBP-CorV vaccine, which looked at data from February through June as Peru battled a brutal second wave of infections fueled by the Lambda and Gamma variants of the coronavirus, was conducted on nearly 400,000 frontline health workers. in real conditions.

Most health workers received two doses of the vaccine.

“The efficacy in preventing infection is not high and this is something to consider once a high percentage of the population receives their two doses, (the) time when boosters can be considered to optimize the protection of frontline health workers, ”said the study released last week by scientists from Peru’s National Institute of Health and two other research institutes.

The vaccine, however, was 94% effective in preventing death after two doses, he added.

Some countries, including Cambodia and the United Arab Emirates, have offered vaccines made by AstraZeneca Plc (AZN.L) or Pfizer Inc (PFE.N) as reminders to those who have received doses developed by Chinese company Sinopharm. Read more

“Most likely you will actually need a third dose at some point, the question is when is the best time and with what type of vaccine,” Lely Solari, one of the seven, told Reuters. authors of the article. interview.

Solari said that even though the efficacy of Sinopharm’s vaccine against infections was found to be low, it was still acceptable by World Health Organization (WHO) standards.

The vaccine had shown a 78.1% efficacy rate against symptomatic cases of COVID-19 in phase III clinical trials, WHO data showed. An announcement from the Peruvian health ministry said last month that the vaccine was 98% effective against deaths.

Peru has the world’s highest per capita pandemic death toll, which scientists say was caused by the Lambda variant first identified late last year and made worse by a fragile health system .

The Lambda variant recently made headlines due to its spread in the United States and other countries in Latin America, although several infectious disease experts have said that the spread of the variant may be on the way. to move back. Read more

The variant is more resistant to antibodies triggered by vaccines than the original version of the virus that emerged from Wuhan based on the results of laboratory studies, Japanese researchers said in a paper ahead of the peer review. Read more

While the Peruvian study included asymptomatic infections, Solari warned that they had not performed real-time tests to identify infections in a rigorous way.

“The vast majority of the tests took place because health workers developed symptoms,” Solari said. “Some were tested because they suspected an infection, but the vast majority were because they were showing symptoms.”

Peruvian health workers were vaccinated exclusively with the Sinopharm vaccine because it was the first to arrive in Peru and their group was the first to be vaccinated. The country has also vaccinated some people with vaccines from Pfizer and AstraZeneca.

Report by Marcelo Rochabrun in Lima, Roxanne Liu and Ryan Woo in Beijing; Editing by Sayantani Ghosh and Muralikumar Anantharaman

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