Chinese Sinopharm vaccine at the forefront of the corona battle

Chinese Sinopharm vaccine at the forefront of the corona battle

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Tuesday, May 18, 2021

At a time when vaccination against corona is in full swing, and at a time when the only last hope is vaccination alone, we thought it would be our responsibility to bring a clear, simple description of the various vaccines that are being offered. Earlier we talked about the Oxford AstraZeneca or Covishield vaccine and the Gam-COVID-Vac or Russian Sputnik V vaccine. In addition to these two, the other vaccine currently being offered in Sri Lanka is the Sinopharm vaccine manufactured in China. Also, this Chinese Sinopharm vaccine is the most widely given vaccine these days and the most likely vaccine to be given in the future. So let's look at this description of the Sinopharm vaccine as well.

1. Sinopharm vaccine

This vaccine is also used to treat coronavirus. However, the special feature of this vaccine is that it incorporates the whole coronavirus, which is weakened by this vaccine, more than the two vaccines mentioned earlier. In the aforementioned vaccines, the spike protein component of the vaccine was given to the body. But there are only two vaccines in the world that contain the same virus. One is the Chinese Sinovac vaccine. The other is the Sinopharm vaccine we are talking about. The vaccine is called BBIBP-CorV. But the brand name is the name of the company that manufactures the vaccine. That's the name Sinopharm. As the name implies, this vaccine is known as both Sinopharm BBIBP-CorV and Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine.

2. Discovery and production

Sinopharm, a Chinese company, has the honor of inventing the vaccine as well as the production rights to the vaccine. Sinopharm is a Chinese state-owned pharmaceutical group corporation. In addition to this organization, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Serbia, Belarus and Bangladesh have entered into agreements to develop this vaccine in their respective countries.

3. Clinical trials

Sinopharm, the company that discovered the vaccine, will receive approval from the Chinese government in April 2020 to begin the first phase of clinical trials. By October 15, 2020, the institute will release the results of their first and second phase of clinical trials. The results show that 192 adults who participated in the first phase of clinical trials and 448 adults who participated in the second phase of clinical trials successfully developed antibodies against the Kovid virus. The third phase of clinical research is currently underway in a number of countries.

4. Success

According to the data submitted to the World Health Organization for approval of the vaccine, the success rate of the vaccine is 78.1%. In addition, research conducted in various countries shows the effectiveness of this vaccine. MRNA vaccines such as Pfizer and Moderna have efficiencies of more than 90%, but are difficult to use in many countries due to the extreme cold conditions of transportation and storage.

5. Initiation of vaccination

With the release of the results of clinical trials of the third phase of the vaccine, a large number of countries are beginning to order this vaccine. A large number of countries from all continents including Sri Lanka have started using this vaccine.

6. Approval

However, the vaccine will be approved by the World Health Organization on May 7, 2021. That means this is very recent. The delay in releasing the results of the clinical trials of the third phase of the vaccine is also believed to have been a reason for the delay in obtaining this approval. By now, however, the World Health Organization (WHO) has approved the vaccine, which has allayed many doubts about the vaccine.

7. Vaccination in Sri Lanka

The Sri Lankan government will approve the vaccine in March 2021. Accordingly, Sri Lanka will receive 600,000 vaccines in March, while the Sri Lankan government has ordered another 3 million vaccines in May. However, vaccination in Sri Lanka will commence on May 7 after receiving World Health Organization approval on May 7. Currently, the vaccination has been started in selected areas in the Western Province where the risk of corona is highest.