China’s Covid-19 vaccines in demand, but will efficacy data affect its diplomacy goals?

Name: Brazil study shows China’s Sinovac vaccine less effective than earlier data on the Covid-19 shots
Uploaded: 2021-01-24T22:00:12.000Z
Duration: 2 min 29 s
Description: Brazil study shows China’s Sinovac vaccine less effective than earlier data on the Covid-19 shots

Beijing could make ‘vaccine diplomacy’ gains by providing doses to developing countries in short supply

But the release of efficacy data in Brazil for the vaccine of Chinese firm Sinovac served as a reminder that such efforts rely on medical credibility

Reading Time:6 minutes

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China may make ‘vaccine diplomacy’ gains by giving doses to nations in short supply, but trial data on one of the vaccines has shown the need for credibility. Illustration: Henry Wong

Josephine Ma

Published: 6:00am, 25 Jan 2021Updated: 6:53am, 25 Jan 2021

Vaccines featured prominently in a Southeast Asian tour by Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi this month, just as the efficacy of one of his country’s vaccines was drawing scrutiny around the world.

During a trip widely seen as China’s bid to shore up relations with its Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) neighbours before a possible policy shift by the incoming Biden administration, Wang said China would give half a million free vaccine doses to the Philippines – widely believed to be the one developed by Sinovac, although Wang did not specify.

Wang also offered 300,000 doses to Myanmar, reportedly including vaccines produced by both Sinopharm and Sinovac, with “a batch” of the doses to be free.

The donations were made as the Butantan Institute, Sinovac’s partner in Brazil, dropped a bombshell by saying its trials had found Sinovac’s vaccine CoronaVac to be only 50.4 per cent effective. This referred to its data for general efficacy – protection against all severities of Covid-19 including mild cases not requiring treatment.

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Brazil study shows China’s Sinovac vaccine less effective than earlier data on the Covid-19 shots

How well Chinese vaccines perform in late-stage clinical trials has drawn worldwide attention, with high expectations that China could help fill a supply gap for developing countries after most Western vaccines were snapped up by rich countries.

Butantan’s announcement whipped up political bickering in the Philippines, with some lawmakers arguing CoronaVac was too expensive given its apparently low efficacy, while regulators from some other places said they would review the data further.

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