A TOP medic yesterday dismissed international media claims suggesting a low efficacy rate of the Chinese vaccine Sinopharm.
National Taskforce for Combating Coronavirus (Covid-19) monitoring committee head and BDF hospital infectious disease control consultant Dr Manaf Al Qahtani called the claims “incorrect”.
His tweet follows widespread media coverage on Sunday quoting the Chinese Centre of Disease Control (China CDC) director Gao Fu saying that Covid-19 vaccines produced by his country had a low protection rate.
Dr Al Qahtani referred to a report on m.guancha.cn, which quoted Mr Fu saying that “it was a complete misunderstanding” and “taken out of context”.
“For everyone who asked me about the Chinese vaccines including Sinopharm and the news that was circulating, I checked this news (m.guancha.cn) source myself and translated it,” tweeted Dr Al Qahtani.
Dr Al Qahtani
“As I understand, the claims are totally incorrect and I urge all to read the translation of the report.”
Sinopharm was the first anti-Covid vaccine to be approved for emergency use in Bahrain after the country successfully completed its phase three clinical trials on 7,700 volunteers last year. The trials were conducted in partnership with China National Biotec Group and Abu Dhabi-based artificial intelligence and cloud computing company Group 42 (G42).
Mr Fu said his comments had been misinterpreted.
“Protection rates of all vaccines in the world are sometimes high, and sometimes low,” he told the Chinese media outlet Global Times.
“How to improve their efficacy is a question that needs to be considered by scientists around the world.”
China has developed four different vaccines for public use.
More than 100 million people in China have received at least one shot of a vaccine and Beijing has insisted the jabs are effective and said in March that obtaining visas would be easier for foreigners who have received a Chinese vaccine.
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