Vulnerable Pakistanis to get priority for Chinese COVID-19 vaccine

By Masood Sattar Khan
(Pakistan News & Features Services)

China will provide a coronavirus vaccine candidate developed by Sinopharm, a unit of the China National Pharmaceutical Group, to Pakistan as part of a trial agreement.

The University of Karachi and Sinopharm are set to collaborate on vaccine trials and Pakistan will get vaccine doses sufficient to vaccinate one-fifth of its population. 

According to reports, the initial doses will be used to vaccinate the most vulnerable among the Pakistani population including the elderly, healthcare workers and people with medical conditions associated with serious cases of COVID-19.

Earlier in April, Sinopharm had invited the National Institute of Health (NIH), Islamabad, to collaborate in conducting clinical trials of its inactivated vaccine for COVID-19 in Pakistan. 

In a letter sent to NIH Executive Director Maj Gen Dr Aamer Ikram, the general manager of China Sinopharm International Corp, Li Can, had expressed the hope that a successful clinical trial in Pakistan will make it one of the first few countries for the launch of a Covid-19 vaccine. 

The NIH official was then reported to have stated that although clearances were needed for the purpose, the collaboration could be a great thing for Pakistan. Meanwhile, researchers have said that Sinopharm’s coronavirus vaccine candidate appeared to be safe and triggered antibody-based immune responses in early and mid-stage trials. 

The candidate has already moved into a late-stage trial, one of a handful of candidates being tested on several thousand people to see if they are effective enough to win regulatory approval. 

Sinopharm is testing the potential vaccine in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in a Phase 3 trial expected to recruit 15,000 people, as China has too few new cases to be a useful trial site. 

The shot did not cause any serious side effects, according to a paper published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) by scientists who are part of Sinopharm and other China-based disease control authorities and research institutes. The results were based on data from 320 healthy adults in Phase 1 and 2 trials. 

Sinopharm’s chairman told state media last month that a potential vaccine could be ready by the end of this year with Phase 3 testing expected to be completed in about three months. 

The novel coronavirus, which has killed more than 750,000 people globally, has prompted a race to develop a vaccine. More than 150 candidate vaccines are being developed and tested around the world. China is leading the development of at least eight vaccine candidates in different stages of clinical trials.