Countries relying on Chinese vaccines now see surge in COVID-19 infections: Report

Countries like Mongolia, Seychelles and Bahrain relied on Chinese COVID-19 vaccines to combat the coronavirus pandemic, however, they are now battling a surge in infections, according to New York Times. The media outlet reported that the examples from several countries suggest that the Chinese vaccines may not be very effective at preventing the spread of the virus, particularly the new variants. While citing a data-tacking project report, it said that in Seychelles, Chile, Bahrain and Mongolia, about 50 to 68 per cent of the populations have been fully inoculated with Chinese vaccines, but they are still among the top 10 countries with the worst COVID-19 outbreak. 

Jin Dongyan, a virologist at the University of Hong Kong, said, “If the vaccines are sufficiently good, we should not see this pattern. The Chinese have a responsibility to remedy this”. 

China says no link between outbreak and vaccine 

As per the report, Seychelles, which relied mostly on Sinopharm, reported more than 716 COVID-19 cases per million. Mongolia, relying on Chinese aid, quickly rolled out a vaccination program and eased restrictions, inoculating 52 per cent of its population. However, it recorded 2,400 new infections on Sunday, a quadrupling from a month before.

Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates were the first two countries to approve Sinopharm shot, even before late-stage clinical trial data was released. Since then, NYT reported that there have been extensive reports of vaccinated people falling ill in both countries. China’s foreign ministry, however, has said that it did not see a link between the recent outbreaks and its vaccine. It even cited the WHO as saying that vaccination rates in certain countries had not reached sufficient levels to prevent outbreaks and that countries need to continue to maintain controls. 

"Relevant reports and data also show that many countries that use Chinese-made vaccines have expressed that they are safe and reliable, and have played a good role in their epidemic prevention efforts," the ministry said.

Meanwhile, it is worth noting that the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines have efficacy rates of more than 90 per cent. China’s Sinopharm vaccine has an efficacy rate of 78.1 per cent and the Sinovac vaccine has an efficacy rate of 51 per cent. Moreover, the Chinese companies have not released much clinical data to show how their vaccines work at preventing transmission. 

(With inputs from ANI)