China’s corona vaccine triggers quick immunity, claims in research

New Delhi : China’s Sinovac Biotech’s experimental COVID-19 vaccine CoronaVac triggered a quick immune response. But the preliminary trial results showed on Wednesday that the level of antibodies produced was lower than in people who had recovered from the disease.

Sinovac Biotech’s experimental COVID-19 vaccine CoronaVac triggered a quick immune response but the level of antibodies produced was lower than in people who had recovered from the disease, preliminary trial results showed on Wednesday.

Researchers said it could provide sufficient protection, based on their experience with other vaccines and data from preclinical studies with macaques while the early to mid-stage trials were not designed to assess the efficacy of CoronaVac. The study comes in short time after the news this month from U.S. drugmakers Pfizer and Moderna as well as Russia that showed their experimental vaccines were over 90% effective based on interim data from large, late-stage trials.

CoronaVac and four other experimental vaccines developed in China are currently undergoing late-stage trials to determine their effectiveness in preventing COVID-19.

Currently stage three trials of Sinovac vaccine is running in Indonesia, Brazil and Turkey. Researchers said the findings of the Phase-3 trial would be important to determine whether the immune response generated by Coronavac is sufficient to protect people from coronavirus infection.  The results must be interpreted with caution until Phase III results are published, said Naor Bar-Zeev, a professor from Johns Hopkins University who was not involved in the study.

In India, there is uncertainty over the mass availability of Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines, owing to the logistical restraints due to the requirement of the deep-freeze storage. Unlike Pfizer’s vaccine which must be kept at -70 degree Celsuis, Moderna’s shot can be stored at normal fridge temperatures, which should make it easier to distribute.