China’s two Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccines have shown over 70% efficacy against symptomatic cases, but are not clear on their level of protection against severe or asymptomatic cases, according to related research.
The Journal of American Medical Association study noted that interim results of a vaccine — developed by a Wuhan-based subsidiary of Sinopharm – highlighted 72.8% effective against symptomatic COVID-19 for at least two weeks after the second injection and that this was slightly better than the 72.5% rate announced in a company statement in February.
Another vaccine developed by a Beijing-based institute — linked to Sinopharm and given emergency use approval by the World Health Organization (WHO) this month — showed a 78.1% efficacy, the study showed while highlighting calculations over 142 symptomatic cases in a trial involving more than 40,000 participants of whom 26 were injected with the Wuhan unit’s vaccine and 21 with the Beijing unit’s shot.
The trial, which was conducted in countries including the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, did not recruit pregnant women and people under 18, while data was insufficient for the elderly and those with chronic diseases, researchers said, adding that data from other trial sites in Egypt and Jordan would be included in the final analysis.
