Singapore: Following approval, health officials cast doubt over Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine

Health officials in Singapore are the latest to cast doubt over the efficacy of coronavirus vaccines manufactured by China’s Sinovac Biotech, even though they approved it for mass inoculation on June 18. The Chinese developed jabs triggered scepticism after over 350 health workers in Indonesia tested COVID positive even after being inoculated using Sinovac shots citing the same to New York Times, Singapore’s Director of Medical services Kenneth Mak asserted that he was worried about reports of people getting sick after getting inoculated with Sinovac. Furthermore, he said that it implied that different vaccines have different efficacy.

According to Phase III trials reports, Sinovac vaccines-CoronaVac- showed an efficacy between 50 and 84 per cent. Last Month, the vaccine also got World Health Organisation (WHO)’s an interim recommendation for its use. Apart from China, Indonesia and Singapore, the vaccine has been given emergency use approval in Chile, Brazil, Mexico, Thailand and Turkey. Earlier this month, the Philippines also approved it but not for health workers.

"A large phase 3 trial in Brazil showed that two doses, administered at an interval of 14 days, had an efficacy of 51% against symptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection, 100% against severe COVID-19, and 100% against hospitalization starting 14 days after receiving the second dose," WHO said about CoronaVac. 

Earlier in June, China granted approval for emergency use of Sinovac Biotech's CoronaVac vaccine on children aged 3-17 on Friday, as per International reports. Speaking to Chinese media, Sinovac chairman Yin Weidong told that Sinovac has finished phase I and II clinical research on this age group, which proved the vaccine is as safe and efficient as it is for adults. 

COVID in Singapore

Since the outbreak, the city-state has reported over 62,414  cases of COVID-19, out of which a total of have 35 died while 62,042 have recovered. Singapore has given emergency use approval only to vaccines developed by Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna, however, on Friday it allowed 24 private health clinics to administer Sinovac following authorisation by the WHO.

Ministry of Health figures show that the number of local Delta variant cases in Singapore is the highest caused by a variant of concern, among four such variants that have been detected. The cases reported in Singapore are of Delta variant, Alpha variant, Beta variant, Gamma variant. The health authorities have ramped up testing, contact tracing, vaccination programme to control the spread of coronavirus. 

Image: AP