Nearly one million people have received experimental vaccine against Chinese coronavirus

© Zhang Yuwei / Xinhua / Getty Images
BEIJING, March 16, 2020 A staff member presents samples of the inactivated COVID-19 vaccine at Sinovac Biotech Ltd., Beijing, capital of China, March 16, 2020. China has approved two inactivated COVID-19 vaccine candidates for clinical trials, according to the State Council’s Joint Coronavirus Prevention and Control Mechanism on Tuesday. The two vaccine candidates are being developed by the Wuhan Institute of Biologics under the China National Pharmaceutical Group, Sinopharm, and Sinovac Research and Development Co., Ltd., a Beijing-based company. Clinical trials of both vaccines have started. (Photo by Zhang Yuwei / Xinhua via Getty) (Xinhua / Zhang Yuwei via Getty Images)

Nearly a million people have received an experimental vaccine against the coronavirus developed by Sinopharm as part of an emergency use program authorized by Beijing, the president of the Chinese pharmaceutical giant said.

No serious side effects have been reported to date in vaccinees, Sinopharm said in a post on the WeChat social media platform Wednesday, citing Chairman Liu Jingzhen.

“In an emergency, we have now used it on nearly a million people. We have not received any reports of serious adverse reactions, and only a few have mild symptoms,” Liu said.

Liu said the vaccine was given to Chinese construction workers, diplomats and students who traveled to more than 150 countries around the world during the pandemic – and none of them have reported infection.

He said on November 6 that there were 56,000 people who had received emergency vaccinations and then left overseas.

“For example, a transnational company has 99 employees in one of its offices abroad, of which 81 have been vaccinated. And later, an epidemic broke out in the office, 10 out of 18 unvaccinated people were infected and none of them were vaccinated. were infected, ”he said.

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He said that, separately, Sinopharm had conducted Phase 3 clinical trials involving nearly 60,000 people in 10 countries – including the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Peru and Argentina. CNN has yet to see the results of those tests.

Sinopharm has two candidate vaccines. It is not known which vaccine Liu was referring to.

Beijing has allowed companies to perform urgent vaccinations using experimental drugs for months. In June, the Chinese company CanSino Biologics announced that it had received special permission to administer its experimental vaccine to the People’s Liberation Army.

Since July, Chinese drug makers have been administering investigational vaccines to people in “high-risk” occupations under the Emergency Use Program, which allows vaccine candidates to be used on a limited scale before their safety and efficacy have not been fully proven by clinical trials. .

Experimental coronavirus vaccines have even reportedly been offered to the public in parts of China, prompting some citizens to rush across the country to get their hands on a dose.

It comes after Pfizer on Wednesday announced the results of its Phase 3 coronavirus vaccine trials, which it said were 95% effective in preventing infections – even in the elderly – and posed no safety concerns. serious. A day earlier, Moderna announced that its coronavirus vaccine was 94.5% effective.

Pfizer is expected to seek emergency use authorization from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for its vaccine on Friday.

Dr Anthony Fauci, America’s foremost infectious disease expert, said the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines have shown extraordinary effectiveness.

“It’s extraordinary,” Fauci said. “It’s almost on par with what we see with measles (vaccine), which is 98% effective.”