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An article published by the Jornal da Cidade Online website about the suspension of tests for a Chinese vaccine in Peru is misleading. The text, published on Saturday 12, did not mention at any time which company was responsible for the immunizer. Just this Monday, the 14th, the link was updated to include the information that the suspended vaccine is from Sinopharm, which does not carry out clinical trials in Brazil. It is another Chinese pharmaceutical company, Sinovac, which conducts research in association with the Butantan Institute, in São Paulo.
Sinopharm has two covid-19 vaccine candidates in phase three of the trial, one in partnership with the Wuhan Biological Institute and the other with the Beijing Biological Institute. The immunizer that had the study suspended in Peru is tested in the following countries: United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan and Argentina. The Paraná government reached an agreement with the Chinese pharmaceutical company to carry out tests in the state, but the association was not successful.
Sinopharm tests were suspended in Peru after a volunteer felt weakness in his legs. The country’s Health Ministry said it is still investigating whether this symptom was caused by vaccination. On Saturday 12, the head of the investigation in Peru, Germán Málaga, from the Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia (UPCH), told the local press that “there is very little probability” of the relationship with the immunizer. According to the doctor, the result of the investigation of the adverse event would be ready in three days.
The comments of the Jornal da Cidade Online publication on Facebook show that many people understood that the vaccine suspended in Peru is the same vaccine produced in São Paulo in partnership with Butantan. “(State Governor, João) Doria must first wear tight pants with his family and forget about the population because no one wants to take this vaccine from China,” wrote one user.
Searched for by Comprava, the site responded by email that it made an update to the article, reporting that the vaccine was developed by the Sinopharm laboratory.
How do we verify?
We investigated the suspension of tests of the Chinese vaccine in the Brazilian and Peruvian press. We are also looking for official positions from the Ministry of Health of Peru and Sinopharm, but we have not been able to contact the Chinese pharmaceutical company.
Comprava carried out this verification based on scientific information and official data on the new coronavirus and covid-19 available on December 14, 2020.
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What is the Chinese vaccine tested in Peru?
The Sinopharm vaccine tested in Peru uses inactivated virus technology and is produced in partnership with the Wuhan Biological Institute. The studies began in July 2020. According to a disclosure by the Peruvian Ministry of Health, Sinopharm began the tests in the country in September, with 6,000 volunteers and, in October, it managed to double the number of people tested.
The same text states that, in addition to Sinopharm, Johnson and Johnson also began phase 3 trials in the country in November, with 3,500 volunteers. The Peruvian government has so far reported an agreement to acquire 9.9 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine, for use already authorized in the United States, and another 13.2 million doses through the Covax Facility collaborative initiative.
The same vaccine has already been approved by the UAE Ministry of Health. There, phase three studies have certified an effectiveness of 86%, according to the health agency. The Chinese manufacturer has not released data on the tests.
According to the Brazilian government’s immunization plan, which lists all vaccines in the phase three trial in the world, the Sinopharm immunizer had “mild and short-lived adverse events, characterized mainly by pain at the application site and fever, no record of serious adverse events “.
What were the symptoms of the Peruvian volunteer?
UPCH researcher Germán Málaga explained to the Peruvian newspaper El Comercio that a 64-year-old volunteer had weak legs after receiving the vaccine produced by Sinopharm. “It looks more like a diabetic neuropathy; however, there is a slim chance that it was Guillain-Barré and for safety reasons the study was discontinued,” he explained.
Guillain-Barré syndrome is a rare autoimmune disease that affects 1 to 4 people per 100,000 inhabitants. One of the symptoms is precisely the weakness of the lower limbs.
Málaga added that the probability of having a relationship with the vaccine is “very small” because the patient has poorly controlled diabetes for many decades. “The patient is fine, fortunately it is a mild event, the patient is recovering, is in good condition and is being given all the support to regain his health,” said the doctor.
According to Málaga, investigations into a possible relationship with the immunizer would take 72 hours. After that, testing could be resumed. In Peru, 11,700 volunteers received doses of the Chinese vaccine.
The decision to suspend the studies was released by the National Institute of Health of Peru on December 11. The Peruvian Ministry of Health backed the decision in a statement the following day, in which it reported that the adverse event was being investigated. According to the health agency, the temporary suspension is a security measure provided by the Regulation of Clinical Trials.
What is the Chinese vaccine tested in Brazil?
In Brazil, the vaccine is produced by another Chinese manufacturer, Sinovac Biotech, and is tested in partnership with the Butantan Institute in 17 research centers (page 65). This immunizer also uses inactivated virus technology. Testing was suspended in November following the death of a volunteer, but resumed after the cause of death was identified as suicide.
The suspension of studies has already occurred in tests of other immunizers, such as the Oxford University vaccine with the pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca, which had its studies interrupted after an adverse reaction reported by a volunteer in the United Kingdom in September. Four days later, with the analysis of the case, the developers announced the resumption of the tests.
The results of the effectiveness of phase three will be published until Tuesday, November 15. However, the publication has been delayed to include new data from volunteers infected with the new coronavirus. It is the third time that the São Paulo government postpones the announcement of these data.
On Saturday, Governor João Doria (PSDB) said again that the forecast for the start of the vaccination campaign in the state is January 25.
Why do we investigate?
In its third phase, the Comprava Project verifies dubious content related to the public policies of the federal government and the new coronavirus pandemic.
Misleading content related to vaccines in development against COVID-19 can interfere with the population’s confidence in relation to immunizers and reduce adherence to vaccination when the country has a protection plan. Immunizing people with a vaccine is considered the main strategy capable of promoting broad protection and ending the pandemic.
As of Monday afternoon (14), the publication of the Jornal da Cidade Online that did not indicate which Chinese vaccine had been subject to suspension of tests in Peru had been published more than 500 times on Facebook, with more than 88 thousand reactions. 53 thousand shares and 23 thousand comments, according to data from the CrowdTangle tool. The misinformation that associates CoronaVac with the vaccine that had the tests suspended in Peru has also been circulating in the assemblies of the Facebook pages. On the afternoon of Monday (14), the platform already marked the content as false.
Prueva already verified other content that contained incorrect information about covid-19 and the Chinese vaccine developed by the Sinovac laboratory, such as the post that suggested that one report would rule out suicide as the cause of death for a CoronaVac volunteer, another that suggested that the Butantan Institute would not have reported the deaths of a Chinese vaccine volunteer and another who claimed CoronaVac killed the volunteers and caused neurological or DNA damage. The checks also showed that a post suggesting that China would not use its own covid-19 vaccine is misleading.
The publication on the suspension of the Sinopharm vaccine tests in Peru has also been subject to controls by other control agencies, such as Aos Fatos and Boatos.org.
Misleading, for Comprava, is content taken from the original context and used in another to change its meaning.
* The material was produced by vehicles belonging to the Comprava project: Estadão and NSC
