At the beginning of the vaccination campaigns against COVID-19Chinese vaccines have saved countless lives. They started programs in Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East, while rich countries stockpiled a few immunizers with messenger RNA technology. Pfizer and yes modern.
But many governments that previously relied on vaccines from Sinovac Biotech Or Sinopharm are now looking for options from United State and yes Europe Amid concerns about the effectiveness of Chinese immune systems against the Delta strain and less control over the RNA supply by the West.
This preference may already appear in the customs data for ChinaExports of human vaccines fell 21% in August to $1.96 billion from $2.48 billion in July, after rising steadily since December 2020.
“People basically took what they could” when Covid vaccines were first made available, said Nicholas Thomas, an assistant professor at City University of Hong Kong who has edited several books on foreign policy and public health.
“But then the general public – not just doctors – got more information about the differences,” he said. They realize that not all vaccines are equal in terms of protection.
The shift came during the deadly Covid-19 wave in Thailand earlier this year. With cases increasing and Southeast Asia emerging as the new epicenter of the epidemic, the country has been desperately trying to buy vaccines. Only one supplier appeared at the right time: the Chinese Sinovac.
Vaccines allowed the country of 70 million people to start a vaccination campaign sooner than expected, but Thailand quickly faced a challenge now faced by authorities in developing countries.
The efficacy of the so-called inactivated vaccines in China ranges from about 50% to 80% in clinical trials. But they are less effective than mRNA immunomodulators and raise doubts about their efficacy against the delta variant, which is more transmissible.
As a result, the Thai government became the first in the world to implement the vaccine. AstraZeneca In people who have already received a dose or even two of Coronavac, which is manufactured by Sinovac.
Although not an mRNA immunogen, Thai studies have shown that the Cambridge-based company’s viral vector vaccine is as potent as a Chinese vaccine booster, and that Pfizer’s dose was found to be more effective.
Vaccine exports
In a written response to Bloomberg, Sinovac said Coronavac was effective in preventing hospitalizations, ICU admissions and deaths during the pandemic.
A spokesperson said that some countries have applied the Sinovac vaccine first to older people, who are more likely to be hospitalized with Covid-19, while younger populations have received different vaccines at a later time, “and this should be taken into account when evaluating the effectiveness of Coronavac.” .
The company said that many countries, including Thailand, “purchased vaccines from multiple suppliers to increase the number of doses available to the population.”
Even in Pakistan, an all-time ally of the Beijing government and where Chinese vaccines made up 84% of its vaccination campaign, some people are looking to find Western vaccines: Muhammad Kashif, a 41-year-old delivery boy in Karachi, got a rare single dose of an agent Moderna vaccinated in a crowded vaccination center, where those who arrived later had to take KORONAVIC.
Although Sinovac allowed Thailand to start its campaign earlier than planned, 6 million doses arriving in October will be the last shipment. By 2022, at least 75% of government orders will come from Astra and Pfizer.
Chinese companies have exported about 884 million doses of vaccines from the country through agreements, mainly bilateral, with countries such as Brazil and Indonesia. Chile this week began giving Coronavac to children under 6 years old, a strong endorsement of a vaccine that has been the basis of the country’s immunization programme.
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