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Eleven new infections. China recorded that many corona infections on Thursday. Since the beginning of the month, this number has varied between 7 and 20. It hardly increased in the previous weeks.
Is the virus almost defeated in the country where the global pandemic broke out? Does the silent vaccination campaign have something to do with it?
Last test phase still in progress
As the “New Yorker” reports, hundreds of thousands of Chinese are said to have received a vaccine a few weeks ago. Although phase 3 testing is still ongoing. Therefore, an officially approved substance is not freely available on the market.
Four candidates from Chinese pharmaceutical companies Sinovac, Sinopharm and CanSino are currently in the middle of this final stage. The approval of the vaccine is scheduled for this month to prevent Donald Trump.
In China, it is assumed that the US president would grant approval shortly before the November elections. “So your goal is to get a vaccine approved in advance,” Yiwu He, head of the innovation department at the University of Hong Kong, told the “New Yorker.”
The Beijing government apparently did not want to wait until October and gave the green light to the first tests of candidates through an emergency ordinance in the summer. In September, a Sinopharm employee said 350,000 doses of vaccine had already been injected. At Sinovac, about 90 percent of the employees had already been vaccinated at this time.
There is no information on side effects.
People are not clinical study subjects, but selected population groups. Initially, this included people at high risk of infection: medical personnel, soldiers, and police.
Journalists and government officials have now also received the experimental two-phase vaccination. Some scientists test their own product on themselves, they say. More groups will follow. For example, vendors, bus drivers, teachers, and prison guards.
Premature vaccination carries risks. It is not clear, for example, to what extent people will be medically accompanied after vaccination.
The aim of the vaccination campaign is “to immunize selected population groups so that there is a guarantee that entire cities will continue to function,” said Zheng Zhongwei of the national health commission, explaining the procedure on Chinese state television. Nothing is known about the side effects.
The effectiveness of vaccination is uncertain
Mass vaccinations raise questions. For example, it is difficult to evaluate the efficacy of the substance. Because the number of cases in China is so low, it is difficult to know if the vaccine actually protects against infection. Therefore, Chinese companies are moving the phase 3 test series abroad. Among other things to Peru, Saudi Arabia, Brazil and Turkey.
However, the Chinese seem to have great confidence in the national investigation. Guinea pig columnist Kan Chai said the biggest danger is that the vaccine won’t work. But it will not harm your health. He’s doing fine, everything is fine – just as expected, the “Tagesschau” quotes him.
UAE and Russia also approve vaccines
In addition to the Chinese, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has also approved a corona vaccine for restricted emergency use. Medical personnel, for example, should have access to vaccines.
Russia also released its “Sputnik V” to the general public in August. The last phase of clinical trial 3 had not finished here either. (Male)
