The vaccine buzz around the world



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While the whole world has drawn attention to vaccine development by Pfizer and Moderna, there are also rumors that China’s COVID-19 vaccine has been “ successful in mid-term trials. ”

The BBC reported yesterday that several vaccines are in development in China, some of which have already been administered.

According to the researchers, the Sinovac Biotech vaccine led to a rapid immune response in trials with around 700 people.

The announcement came after European and American vaccines reported successful data from large late-stage trials.

Three vaccines, developed in the United States, Germany and Russia, have all published data suggesting more than 90% effectiveness, after trials with tens of thousands of people.

Like the rest of the world, China is struggling to develop a Covid vaccine and four have entered the third and final stage of clinical trials, including the one created by Sinovac Biotech.

However, the results published in the scientific journal The Lancet come only from the first and second phase of testing of one of these four vaccines.

Sinovac Biotech’s CoronaVac triggered a rapid immune response, according to the report, although the study conducted in April and May of this year did not give a percentage of the vaccine’s success rate.

Zhu Fengcai, one of the authors of the article, said the results – which are based on 144 participants in the Phase 1 trial and 600 in the Phase 2 trial – meant the vaccine was “suitable for emergency use ”.

No data from the ongoing large-scale phase 3 trials has yet been released.

With the pandemic almost fully under control in China, advanced-stage trials of the four Chinese vaccines are underway in Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Russia, Indonesia and Brazil.

Officials said nearly 60,000 people had received a vaccine in early November.

Trials of the Sinovac Biotech vaccine in Brazil were briefly halted last week, but resumed after the reported death of a volunteer was unrelated to the vaccine.

At least three of the vaccines are also already being offered to essential workers under an emergency program, while another was approved for the Chinese military in June.

Over the past few days there has been a slew of promising vaccine news from around the world.

First, a German-American vaccine from Pfizer and BioNtech has been shown to be over 90% effective based on late stage trials with over 43,000 people.

Then the American company Moderna said its vaccine had shown an effectiveness of almost 95%, also after large late-stage trials. In both cases, the results are preliminary and the two vaccines have not yet been approved.

And a Russian Covid vaccine would have been 92% effective after trials with 16,000 volunteers. It was already approved for emergency use in Russia in August.

It remains to be seen which of these vaccines will be deployed on a large scale first. Approval and mass production are said to be the next hurdles, and experts warn against expecting widespread vaccination programs until next year. (Source BBC News)



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