In the past week, more than ten Indonesian doctors have died in covid-19 and more than 350 have been infected with the virus. This despite the fact that they had received two injections of the Chinese vaccine Sinovac, writes Dhaka Tribune.
At the same time, Indonesia is in a period of increased spread of infection. More than two million people in the country with 270 million inhabitants have been infected in recent weeks and the hospitals are starting to get full. Chinese Sinovac accounts for 89 percent of the 95 million doses delivered in Indonesia, according to the Wall Street Journal.
How many have been infected by the new delta variant, which seems to spread the virus faster, is unclear. But the development raises questions about how effective Sinovac and other Chinese vaccines really are.
Investigation is in place now in Indonesia on the explanation for the deaths. Other causes can be inadequate medical care or underlying diseases.
However, developments in other countries that have used Chinese vaccines have also led to doubts about their effectiveness.
Countries where other vaccines have been used often notice a clear decline in the spread of infection and the number of deaths in covid-19 when an increasing proportion of the population has received two injections.
But in countries such as the Seychelles, Chile, Bahrain and Mongolia, which have largely relied on Chinese vaccines, the spread of infection has continued.
Recently came the US investment bank JP Morgan with a study which showed that in nine countries that have vaccinated at least 40 percent of the population with Pfizer, Moderna or Astra Zeneca, the spread of infection had decreased significantly.
But in eight countries that had used the Chinese vaccine Sinopharm, the number of new cases decreased in only one of the countries – Hungary. In countries such as Bahrain, the Maldives and the Seychelles, no improvement was observed.
Now has Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates, which also used Chinese vaccines, has started offering a third syringe to provide extra protection. Turkey does the same, initially offering mainly Chinese vaccine.
A problem in the evaluation of Chinese vaccines is the lack of large clinical trials. China has also not shared detailed information from lab tests and the studies that have been done give varied results. A study in Brazil showed that Sinovac provides protection of around 50 percent, which is lower than the other vaccines on the market. In Chile, a survey conducted in April showed that Sinovac provides 80 percent protection against dying in covid-19.
The Chinese The vaccines are so-called “inactivated” vaccines less technically advanced than those manufactured in the West. The Chinese are more reminiscent of, for example, the flu vaccine and consist of dead coronaviruses.
Zhong Nanshan, an epidemiologist in China who has worked with the fight against covid-19, has said that Chinese vaccines reduce the risk of symptomatic infection and severe cases in the delta virus variant. At the same time, Feng Zijian, a former senior official at the Chinese Public Health Agency, has previously told state media that “two Chinese vaccines” are less effective against the delta variant, without specifying which vaccines he meant. China has developed seven different vaccines.
In China, the rate of vaccination has increased recently and it was recently noted that over a billion syringes had been distributed. The country has for a long time had a very low spread of infection. The latest outbreak occurred in Guangdong province in southern China. Most cases were the delta variant.