News
No nod from NMRA Expert Panel yet for Sinovac
- Many say no hurry to expedite EUL as country getting good flow of vaccines
- Situation bleak in Indonesia; Thailand considers booster after two doses
Sri Lanka is yet to grant emergency-use listing (EUL) for the Chinese vaccine Sinovac and many experts were of the view that this may be a good thing as countries which have administered this jab are now facing huge challenges.
As the vaccine expert panel of the National Medicines Regulatory Authority (NMRA) sought more data on Sinovac’s efficacy including the crucial issue of preventing severe disease and death, reports from countries such as Indonesia seemed negative.
The two-dose CoronaVac– known as the Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine – is an inactivated vaccine, manufactured by the Chinese company Sinovac Biotech.
Many experts pointed out that Sri Lanka is now getting a good flow of vaccine stocks and should be able to cover the target population. As such, there was no hurry to expedite EUL.
The need is to check all the data and get what is best for Sri Lanka at a reasonable cost, an expert said, adding that Sinovac also seems to be costing much more than the other vaccines.
The Sunday Times earlier reported that there are moves to import as many as 13 million doses of Sinovac. A local company, Kelun Lifesciences (Pvt) Ltd., is planning to collaborate with Sinovac Biotech (Sinovac Lifesciences Co. Ltd.) to secure these 13 million doses which are to be ‘manufactured’ – dispensed, filled, packaged and tested – at its site in Pallekele, Kandy.
Reports from Indonesia, meanwhile, indicated that the lead scientist behind the Sinovac vaccine trials, Novilia Sjafri Bachtiar is suspected to have died of COVID-19 on July 8.
Indonesia was one of the countries where Sinovac has been widely used, with over tens of millions of people including healthcare personnel getting the jab.
According to an Indonesian data group ‘Lapor COVID-19’, 131 healthcare workers mostly vaccinated with Sinovac have died since June including 50 in July.
This is while Thailand is considering booster shots for medical workers immunized with Sinovac.
Sinovac data
Sinovac is recommended for those over 18 years and has an efficacy rate of 50.4% for preventing symptomatic infection, according to data from a Brazilian trial and an effectiveness of 67%, according to a real-world study in Chile, the WHO has stated.