Because Sinovac disappoints against Omicron
China used it to vaccinate most of the population but now the booster dose may not be enough to cope with the new wave. Data and consequences on the ineffectiveness of Sinovac against Omicron
The third dose of the Chinese Covid vaccine Sinovac, one of the most widely used in the world and also known as CoronaVac, does not produce sufficient levels of neutralizing antibodies against Omicron. This was stated by a study conducted by the University of Hong Kong (HKU) together with the Chinese University of Hong Kong – contradicting the claims made by the vaccine manufacturer.
WHAT SINOVAC SAID
Last week, Nikkei Asia reports, Sinovac claimed that a third dose of his vaccine was "effective in improving serum neutralization against Omicron." In fact, according to an internal study, those who received three doses of Sinovac generated a good immune response that made the vaccine 94% effective. The company, however, did not specify what type and how many antibodies it was, and the newspaper did not respond to a request for a comment.
BETTER MIX AND MATCH
The experts who did the research noted that giving Pfizer / BioNTech as a third dose after two of Sinovac significantly improved protection.
WHO HAS USED AND IS USING SINOVAC
Sinovac, write Nikkei Asia and Quartz , has so far delivered 1.32 billion doses – most of them in Indonesia, Iran, Pakistan and other Asian countries, as well as Africa and South America despite its lower efficacy rate than others. Covid vaccines.
DISAPPOINTMENT EVEN FOR SINOPHARM
Sinopharm, the other Chinese Covid vaccine authorized for emergency use by the World Health Organization (WHO), would also have produced disappointing results in neutralizing Omicron.
A third dose of Sinopharm, according to a study cited by Fortune , generated "significantly lower" levels of antibodies against the Omicron variant.
WHAT HAPPENS IF CHINESE VACCINES DON'T WORK
If the results of the research carried out were to be confirmed, for China (which has vaccinated 1.4 billion people, almost all with Sinovac) but also for all the countries that have administered and are administering Sinovac and Sinopharm it would be a big problem given the speed with which Omicron is spreading . And, as the Financial Times points out , the variant is already forcing Asian countries to abandon the reopening of their borders.
However, in an interview with Bloomberg , Benjamin Cowling, a professor of epidemiology at the University of Hong Kong, said that in countries like Brazil or Indonesia, which use Sinovac, previous waves would have given the population some immunity. natural which could weaken the impact of Omicron.
This, however, would not apply to countries like China or Hong Kong which, also due to the restrictive measures implemented, have not been overwhelmed in the same way.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/sanita/perche-sinovac-delude-contro-omicron/ on Fri, 24 Dec 2021 10:28:23 +0000.