Solomon Islands is expected to begin using 50,000 doses of China’s SINOPHARM COVID-19 vaccine soon following approval for emergency use by the World Health Organization (WHO).
The approval means the SINOPHARM vaccine is the first Chinese COVID-19 vaccine to be added to the COVAX facility. Solomon Islands has received about 24, 000 AstraZeneca vaccine which is being administered to frontline workers.
Some 9, 000 AstraZeneca vaccines have since been administered.
In the latest development, overseas news report said WHO gave the Chinese vaccine the approval last Friday. The move is now seen to have eased the way for poorer nations to get access to another much-needed shot in the fight to end the pandemic.
“The approval allows the Sinopharm vaccine to be included in Covax, the World Health Organization’s global initiative that is designed to promote equitable vaccine distribution around the world,” The New York Times reported.
“The need is dire,” the report said.
The report said rich countries are hoarding doses. India, a major vaccine maker, has stopped exports to address its worsening coronavirus crisis. Questions about safety after exceedingly rare side effects led some countries to briefly pause using AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson doses or change their guidance around the use.
“Reliable vaccine access could improve further next week when the W.H.O. considers another Chinese shot, made by the company Sinovac.
The New York Times quoted an Andrea Taylor, who analyzes global data on vaccines at the Duke Global Health Institute, as saying the potential addition of two Chinese vaccines into the Covax program a “game changer.”
“The situation right now is just so desperate for low-and lower-middle-income countries that any doses we can get out are worth mobilizing,” Ms. Taylor said. “Having potentially two options coming from China could really change the landscape of what’s possible over the next few months.”
“This should be the golden time for China to practice its vaccine diplomacy. The problem is, at the same time, China itself is facing a shortage,” said Yanzhong Huang, a senior fellow for global health at the Council on Foreign Relations. “So in terms of global access to vaccines, I don’t expect the situation to significantly improve in the coming two to three months,” the New Times report said.
But the fanfare may be short-lived. While China has claimed it can make up to 5 billion doses by the end of this year, Chinese officials say the country is struggling to manufacture enough doses for its own population and are cautioning a pandemic-weary world to keep expectations in check, the newspaper said.
Still, the approval represents a high point in China’s vaccine diplomacy efforts and a chance to fill the gap left by Western nations and pharmaceutical companies in low-and middle-income countries, it said.
Sinopharm is the first Chinese shot to be classified as safe and effective by the WHO and its approval could ease concerns about the lack of transparency from Chinese vaccine companies.
Regulators from China and other countries have approved the Sinopharm vaccine in recent months, though the company has not released Phase 3 clinical trial data for scientists to independently assess.
The WHO was given access to this data before the announcement, but there is limited data on how well the vaccine will work against the many coronavirus variants cropping up around the world since the manufacture of the SINOPHARM vaccine.
Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare said last week the government was monitoring the WHO approval process for the SINOPHARM vaccine, which arrived last month. It is being kept the Government’s Medical Store at Ranadi.
“… unless there are changed circumstances that require us to seek the approval of from our own National Drugs and Medicines Therapeutics Committee (NDMTC) earlier, we will wait for the WHO approval before we seek the approval of the NDMTC to roll out the Sinopharm vaccine in the country,” Mr. Sogavare said.
By ALFRED SASAKO
Newsroom, Honiara
