Budapest: A study carried out by Hungarian researchers revealed that the Sinopharm vaccine, manufactured by China offers poor protection from Covid-19 among the elderly. Hungarian researchers Balazs Sarkadi and Tamas Ferenci carried out the study by analyzing the blood samples of 450 people, who had taken the second dose of Sinopharm vaccine. The samples were collected two weeks after they got the second dose of vaccine.
The study revealed that the vaccine produced protective antibodies for 90% of people aged under 50 and the percentage declined with age, and 50% of those over 80 had none.
The study was published online this week but not yet reviewed by other scientists. But several scientists have said that they had no problems with the methodology of the study and raised serious doubts about the efficacy of the vaccine. ‘This is very, very worrying that these people, who are high-risk, have a poor antibody response,’ said Jin Dong-yan, a Hong Kong University virologist.
Sinopharm vaccine is developed by Beijing Institute of Biological Products owned by Chinese government owned Sinopharm. The National Health Commission in China declined to comment on the study. The NHC said that it would only respond to studies by governments or major research institutions.
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Sinopharm’s research team claims that there was insufficient evidence to say whether the vaccines work in the elderly. As per the clinical trials conducted by the Beijing Institute the vaccine was found to be 78% effective. But almost all participants in final-stage clinical trials were under 60. Last April, the National Health Commission in China said that the vaccines manufactured in the country provide some protection, even though it acknowledged that early stages of clinical trials of Sinopharm’s vaccines and two others found fewer antibodies in people 60 and over.
The Sinopharm vaccine was approved by the World Health Organization (WHO) in May and is used in more than 50 countries across the globe. The new study has raised doubts about the efficacy of the vaccine. WHO said that it is aware of the study and will continue to look at all available evidence.
Many people in Hungary had sought private antibody tests after knowing about the new study. The capital city of Budapest offered free testing to elderly residents. This was announced as part of a bid to put pressure on the government to conduct its own wider survey and provide booster shots to those who need them. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban announced that the government would provide its citizens with an optional third shot.
Earlier in May, the UAE and Bahrain both announced that they would provide a third dose of Sinopharm vaccine. Bahrain recommended that people over 50 and some other vulnerable people receive Pfizer-BioNTech’s vaccine as their booster regardless of whether they got Sinopharm initially. But, CNBG, the Sinopharm subsidiary that oversees the Beijing Institute, has said a third dose is not part of the company’s clinical guidance.
More than 500 million vaccine doses were exported by China in the first half of the year. And the Chinese companies have got an order for 550 million doses of vaccines from the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization for the UN-backed COVAX program.
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