Chinese drugmaker: Vaccine 79.3% effective in final tests

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP

By JOE McDONALD and HUIZHONG WU

BEIJING (AP) — A Chinese drugmaker said Wednesday its coronavirus vaccine was found to be 79.3% effective at preventing infection in preliminary data from the final round of testing, moving Beijing closer to possibly being able to fulfill its pledge to supply other developing countries.

The announcement by a unit of state-owned Sinopharm gave the first official data from a Chinese vaccine’s late-stage trial. Its reported effectiveness rate is behind Pfizer Inc.‘s vaccine at 95% and Moderna Inc.’s at 94%. Scientists have cautioned coronavirus vaccines may only be about as effective as flu vaccines, which generally are 50% effective.

Sinopharm is one of at least five Chinese developers that are in a global race to create vaccines for the disease that has killed more than 1.7 million people. More than 1 million health care workers and others in China have received vaccines being developed by Sinopharm and another supplier, Sinovac, under emergency approval while testing was underway.

The two-sentence statement by the Sinopharm unit that developed the vaccine, the Beijing Biological Products Institute Ltd., gave no additional details. Final proof of its effectiveness will depend on publication of more data.



In this photo Dec. 25, 2020 released by Xinhua News Agency, a staff member inspects syringes of COVID-19 inactivated vaccine products at a packaging plant of the Beijing Biological Products Institute Co., Ltd, a unit of state-owned Sinopharm in Beijing. The Chinese drugmaker said Wednesday, Dec. 30, 2020 its coronavirus vaccine was found to be 79.3% effective at preventing infection in preliminary data from the final round of testing, moving Beijing closer to possibly being able to fulfill its pledge to supply other developing countries.(Zhang Yuwei/Xinhua via AP)


Read more: https://apnews.com/article/beijing-china-coronavirus-pandemic-c9c9da912b35620b082b8db9077a123a

[My Pet Orangutan]

1. "79.3% effective at preventing infection" ?

i.e., 79.3% not being infectious? Not the same as Pfizer / Moderna. 95% don't develop Covid (the disease, BUT, may still be infectious.

[CrispyQ]

2. I think the two shot series is going to create unbelievable havoc.

When you talk about vaccinating X number of people a month, when the first people to get the vaccine are due for their second shot, the number of doses just doubled. What if shipment is delayed? How long can you go before you have to start the series over again & is that even safe?

[My Pet Orangutan]

3. Is starting the series over safe?

Yes. (in vaccine theory). The idea is that each time you are exposed to the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein, the immune response grows stronger. If the first two times are via the vaccine, when a third time arives (the virus itself) the immune response should be strong enough to fight it off.

How long after the first shot does (any) immune response last? That is effectively the same as asking how long does the (two shot) vaccine immunity last. If it fades away after two years - the same would be true of the lower level immune response after one shot.

[onetexan]

5. i've read that even after the first dose the effectiveness rate is already quite high, so even if

a person receives just one it's much better than not having received one at all given the body develops immunity.

[mpcamb]

4. I wonder if there was an arm of the study that tried 2 week, 3 week, 4 second shots.

There's likely a curve for when the 2nd dose is most effective for most people.

[TomCADem]

6. If it does not need special cold storage, then it could be a win...

...for developing countries that do not have the infrastructure for the Pfizer vaccine. Look at the distribution problems the US is facing, though that could just be Trump.

[bucolic_frolic]

7. "vaccines may only be about as effective as flu vaccines, which generally are 50% effective"

Ouch!

[LovingA2andMI]

8. Yep...

This.

[C Moon]

9. I've had a flu shot and caught the flu the same season. It lasted one day, and was very mild.

It would have been a lot worse if I hadn't been vaccinated.

Hopefully, the same will be true for COVID-19.

[Nitram]

10. My take on this is that the Chinese always inflate positive statistics. This doesn't sound good.