China’s Sinopharm vaccine's effectiveness under shadow amid covid spikes in countries using it

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Fri, 2021-06-04 12:58 — mike kraft

China’s great vaccine hope, Sinopharm, sees reputation darkened amid covid spikes in countries using it Bahrain's decision to offer booster shots of a different vaccine is the latest blow to Sinopharm's reputation. Adam Taylor, Paul Schemm Washington Post

Last year, Bahrain became one of the first countries to throw support behind China’s Sinopharm vaccine, granting it emergency use approval in December — a substantial boost for Beijing’s global ambitions for the vaccine, despite doubts on the part of some scientists over lack of public safety and efficacy data.

Now, the Persian Gulf country is the latest to raise doubts about the vaccine’s effectiveness.

Bahraini officials told news outlets this week that it would be offering Pfizer-BioNTech doses to certain high-risk individuals who have already received two Sinopharm jabs, suggesting they no longer saw two doses of the Sinopharm vaccine as enough, in the face of a new wave of coronavirus infections.

The policy comes just weeks after the World Health Organization granted Sinopharm emergency use listing, making it the first Chinese-developed vaccine to receive the global health body’s stamp of approval.

The vaccine, developed by Sinopharm with the Beijing Institute of Biological Products, makes up a significant chunk of China’s own supply of vaccines for domestic use. Though slow to start, China’s vaccination drive is ramping up, with officials suggesting 80 percent of the country could be immunized by the end of the year.

In Bahrain, however, a vaccination drive that relied heavily on Sinopharm has so far produced at best mixed results and failed to curb a rise in new cases. ...

Bahrain and neighboring United Arab Emirates — which also relied heavily on Sinopharm for their rapid vaccine rollouts — had previously announced they would offer third-dose Sinopharm booster shots starting in mid-May, after studies showed that some of those vaccinated had not developed sufficient antibodies. ...

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