Sinopharm says its vaccine is 79% effective, seeks approval in China

BEIJING/SINGAPORE: An affiliate of China’s state-owned drug maker Sinopharm said on Wednesday its Covid-19 vaccine showed 79.34% efficacy and has requested regulatory approval.

The efficacy rate, based on an interim analysis of Phase III clinical trials, is lower than 86% rate for the same vaccine announced by the United Arab Emirates on December 9, based on preliminary data from trials there.

A spokeswoman declined to explain the discrepancy and said detailed results would be released later.

China has won several large supply deals with countries including Indonesia and Brazil the most populous countries in Southeast Asia and Latin America respectively. But none of the Chinese drug makers has yet to release detailed efficacy data.

US President-elect Joe Biden slammed the slow rollout of the vaccine by the Trump’s administration. “As I long feared and warned, the effort to distribute the vaccine is not progressing as it should,” he said on Tuesday.

“If it continues to move as it is now, it’s going to take years, not months, to vaccinate the American people.”

Lamenting the slow pace of vaccinations, Anthony Fauci, the top US infectious disease expert, told CNN, “We certainly are not at the numbers that we wanted to be at the end of December.”

Singapore began vaccinations, marking ‘new chapter’ in its virus fight.

The French government faced criticism over the slow progress of vaccinate drive, a problem compounded by the high levels of public scepticism about the campaign.

A poll on vaccine consent conducted by Ipsos Global Advisor in partnership with the World Economic Forum showed that just 40% of the French want to receive the vaccine.