By Brian Dlamini
As the country began its national Covid -19 vaccination programme last Thursday, so many questions have been raised about the Chinese Sinopharm vaccine, with several attempts by the anti-Government activists trying to discredit it.
Political activists such as Professor Jonathan Moyo, Fadzayi Mahere, Tendai Biti and Hopewell Chin’ono, among others have been on an overdrive to cast aspersions on the Chinese-developed vaccine and discouraging the people from taking it.
What we know so far about the Sinopharm Vaccine.
Sinopharm and Sinovac are the two front runners of the Chinese developed vaccines out of 16 different Covid-19 vaccines, with some still at various stages of development. Together with Sinovac, it was one of the vaccines that China has successfully administered to its citizens last year when it began its inoculation drive without any notable grievous side effects.
According to Wikipedia, by late December 2020, Sinopharm successfully carried out several phase three trials in countries such as Argentina, Bahrain, Egypt, Morroco, Pakistan, Peru and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) with over 60,000 participants. The vaccine has also been approved for use in these countries and has been achieving the intended results.
Efficacy Rate
Clinical data from several sources indicate that the Sinopharm vaccine has an 86% efficacy rate. As at 9 December 2020, according to data from trials conducted in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the Sinopharm vaccine was found to be highly effective in preventing moderate and severe cases of Covid-19 and had no safety concerns. Also in December 2020, Sinopharm announced that its internal analysis indicated a 79% efficacy.
Surely, with such high efficacy rate, this puts to rest the concerns by the misguided anti-Government activists.
The myth peddled by opposition forces that the Sinopharm vaccine is ineffective against new variants such as the South African variant is completely false and misleading. According to an article published recently by the Asia Nikkei, the Sinopharm vaccine was found to be effective against the South African variant.
Covid-19 Vaccination Campaigns
Zimbabwe is not the only country that is administering the Sinopharm vaccine in its national Covid-19 vaccination roll out.
As at February 2020, several countries have ordered millions of doses of the Sinopharm vaccine to launch their Covid-19 immunisation campaigns. On 7 February 2020, Peru began its vaccination drive after it took delivery of 300 000 doses from China, Hungary inoculated its 2.5 million people using the Sinopharm vaccine and Phillipines has ordered 10 000 Sinopharm vaccines, among others.
African countries such as Morroco, Equitorial Guinea and Senegal have also taken delivery of the Sinopharm vaccines. On 13 February 2020, Morrocco received 500 000 doses, Senegal has also received 200 000 vaccines and lastly, Equitorial Guinea received a 100 000 donation from the Chinese.
From these countries that have administered the Sinopharm vaccine, so far, there are no casualties and side effects that have been reported. Thus, this pours cold water on the naivety of some the anti-Government political activists who have been pushing the narrative that the Sinopharm vaccine was being experimented on Zimbabweans.
Easier Distribution
The advantage of the Sinopharm vaccine over other vaccines such as Pfizer and Moderna, among others is that it can transported and stored at normal refrigerated temperatures, unlike the later which require deep freeze facilities and trucks.
In conclusion, just like any other newly developed Covid-19 vaccine on the market, Sinopharm vaccines has its positives and deficiencies, so the public must not be misled by these divisive forces as they are bent on misinforming the public for their selfish agendas.
Government must be applauded for being proactive in the fight against the Covid-19 virus. Let’s all take our Covid-19 jabs and as a nation, we will win the battle against the pandemic.
