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BEIJING: The different efficacy results of a Chinese COVID-19 vaccine launched separately in China and the UAE are real and valid, an executive from the China National Biotech Group (CNBG) told state media.
China approved its first COVID-19 vaccine for general public use on Thursday (Dec. 31), an injection developed by a state-backed Sinopharm affiliate, after the developer said the vaccine showed an efficacy of 79, 34 percent based on interim analysis from late stage clinical trials.
That rate is lower than the 86 percent rate for the same vaccine reported by the United Arab Emirates on December 9.
Countries have certain differences in their standards and procedures for diagnosing patients, and the final results of identifying the COVID-19 case were different, Yang Xiaoming, chairman of the CNBG of Sinopharm’s unit, told Global Times, a tabloid published by the People’s Daily, the official newspaper. of the ruling Communist Party of China.
READ: China grants its first COVID-19 vaccine approval to Sinopharm
“Thus, there were differences between the comprehensive data from various countries that we reviewed and the protection rate data previously assessed by the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain,” Yang said, according to the Global Times, in a report published Thursday.
“But these two results are real and valid,” Yang said, without elaborating on the data.
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CNBG did not participate in the analysis or review of clinical trial data published by regulators in the countries where its vaccine was being tested, Yang said.
The vaccine, developed by CNBG’s Beijing Biological Products Institute unit, along with another candidate from a Wuhan-based CNBG unit, is being tested in phase III clinical trials outside of China.
The trials for CNBG candidates have recruited more than 60,000 participants between the ages of 18 and 60, Yang said.
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