The disappointing Chinese vaccine results are a setback for the developing world

Lukewarm results could also be an issue for Chinese officials, since they have touted the effectiveness of vaccines made by Sinovac and Sinopharm. Although the vaccines have not obtained regulatory approval, and data from late-stage trials have not been made public, Beijing has given them to thousands of Chinese under its emergency use policy; on him It plans to vaccinate 50 million people By the middle of next month.

China’s state media have downplayed news from Brazil. The Global Times, a nationwide tabloid owned by the state, ran a headline saying that the Sinovac vaccine “is 100 percent effective in preventing severe cases, and can reduce hospitalization by 80 percent”.

The new data could increase suspicion among people around the world who are already wary of vaccines made in China, given that the country has a history of vaccine quality scandals. A study from the Chinese University of Hong Kong found that Only 37.2 percent of the respondents were in Hong Kong They were ready to be vaccinated.

Scientists have already raised questions about the fragmented way in which efficacy data about Chinese vaccines have been published. Indonesia said on Monday that its tentative analysis found CoronaVac has it The efficacy rate is 65.3%. Turkey said last month that it had done so With an efficacy rate of 91.25%, But that was based on preliminary results from a small clinical trial.

The vaccine has long taken on a political dimension in Brazil. President Jair Bolsonaro spoke sarcastically about CoronaVac, which led to a growing anti-vaccination movement in the country, as more than 200,000 people died from Covid-19. Vaccine has been an advocate for São Paulo’s governor, Joao Doria, who is widely expected to run for president in 2022 and is one of Bolsonaro’s most outspoken critic.

In Brazil, officials say the previously announced higher potency rate for CoronaVac is about the protection it provides against the emergence of Covid-19 symptoms large enough to require treatment. While officials confirmed last week that the vaccine provides absolute protection against moderate to severe symptoms, they did not detect another group with “very mild” infection, despite being vaccinated.

There is no reason to doubt the safety of CoronaVac, Denise Jarrett, a Brazilian-American epidemiologist and vaccine expert, adding that the data provided so far indicates that it will provide a satisfactory level of protection. But Dr. Garrett said that the mysterious and sometimes misleading way in which information about the vaccine was announced could shake people’s confidence in its reliability and fuel the political battle over the vaccine.