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The Chinese manufacturer Sinovac’s coronavirus vaccine was shown to be safe and produced an immune response in the elderly, although it was less than in adults, according to data published by the company itself on Monday (7).
The information was announced by the Reuters news agency in Beijing. The results of the study have not yet been formally published.
To reach this conclusion, the pharmaceutical researchers evaluated, in a combined phase 1 and 2, which began in May, 421 participants aged 60 and over.
The volunteers were divided into three groups that received two doses of the immunizer each: the first with a low dose of the vaccine, the second with a medium amount and the third with a high dose.
More than 90% of the participants showed a significant increase in antibodies after 14 and 28 days after the first dose. This amount of antibodies, however, was slightly less than that seen in adults aged 18 to 59 years. In this age group, the incidence of protection was greater than 97% after 28 days.
Observing the safety of a vaccine for the age group over 60 years is especially relevant when considering the overall weaker immune systems of these individuals. Therefore, safety tests with different doses are important at this stage.
Called CoronaVac, the Chinese vaccine is currently in phase 3 of clinical trials, including testing with about 9,000 volunteers in Brazil. The São Paulo government reached an agreement with the pharmaceutical company Sinovac to transfer technology and produce the vaccine together with the country’s Butantan Institute.
A Sinovac spokesman, Liu Peicheng, also said that the candidate vaccine can remain stable for up to three years, and that this storage can be done at room temperature at 25 ° C for 42 days, at 37 ° C for 28 days. days and for five months at a temperature of 2˚ to 8˚C, which may indicate a logistical advantage over other candidates, especially in tropical countries.
The Sinovac pharmaceutical company vaccine is made from inactivated viruses. The idea is to modify Sars-CoV-2 making it non-infectious. Scientists insert the coronavirus into Vero cells, cell lines commonly used in microbiological cultures, synthesized from cells isolated from the kidneys of a monkey species in the 1960s and used today, to multiply it in the laboratory. From there, the virus is inactivated and incorporated into the vaccine.
The production of a fully inactivated virus vaccine is similar to that used for the production of rabies vaccine. However, this type of vaccine needs significant safety tests. Phase 3 that is ongoing in Brazil should continue for at least six months.
The vaccine produced by Sinovac also requires two doses for immunization, which should represent an additional logistical hurdle for manufacturing in Butantan, which aims to produce 120 million doses by 2021, which would be enough to immunize some 60 million Brazilians. .
