Peru Halts Trial for Chinese Covid-19 Vaccine Health Ministry says trial for Sinopharm vaccine was temporarily suspended after a volunteer presented neurological problems Health personnel at Peru’s Cayetano Heredia University in Lima reviewed data in September from a clinical trial of a Covid-19 vaccine being developed by China’s Sinopharm. PHOTO: UPCH/HANDOUT/SHUTTERSTOCK By Ryan Dube Updated Dec. 13, 2020 12:09 am ET LIMA, Peru—Peru’s Health Ministry said Saturday it has suspended a trial for a Chinese Covid-19 vaccine after a participant presented health problems. The Healthy Ministry said a trial with 12,000 volunteers for China’s Sinopharm vaccine has been temporarily put on hold as it investigates whether the vaccine caused what it described as a “serious adverse event” in one of the participants. The trial was expected to finish in the coming days. Germán Málaga, a health researcher at the Cayetano Heredia University in Lima, where the trial is taking place, said a volunteer presented neurological problems, resulting in difficulty moving his legs. Dr. Málaga told radio station RPP Noticias that he didn’t believe the health problem was due to the vaccine, but more information was needed. “We are concerned about the situation, and we are providing all of our help and support to ensure that it is cleared up,” he said. The United Arab Emirates said this week that its own trial for the Sinopharm vaccine had shown that it was 86% effective in protecting people from Covid-19. The U.A.E.’s trial included 31,000 people, although authorities didn’t disclose how many infection cases the efficacy estimate was based on. The more cases, the more reliable the results are considered to be. The analysis of its effectiveness against Covid-19 was also only for a strain of the vaccine developed in Beijing. Another strain has been developed in Wuhan. In Peru, it isn’t clear which Sinopharm strain was used in the country’s trial. A spokesman for the Health Ministry didn’t respond to requests for comment. Sinopharm didn’t respond to a request for comment. Chinese vaccine makers face pressure to provide clinical evidence that their experimental candidates work, after leading Western vaccines, including one developed by Pfizer Inc. and German partner BioNTech SE, have been shown to be extremely effective. Public-health experts have criticized China for authorizing emergency use of its vaccines, before solid clinical evidence is presented. Sinopharm is testing its vaccines in Argentina, Bahrain, Egypt, Indonesia, Jordan, Morocco and Russia. Egypt and Indonesia have already received early batches of the vaccines. In China, nearly one million people have received vaccines from Sinopharm, including Chinese workers going abroad, government officials and students. Peru has confirmed more than 36,500 deaths from Covid-19, giving it one of the highest per capita mortality rates in the world. The country of 32 million people has signed a deal with Pfizer to receive some 9.9 million doses of its Covid-19 vaccine. Government officials here hope the first batch of that vaccine will be delivered around March or April. Peru also has signed an agreement to receive vaccines from a World Health Organization-backed initiative, called Covax. That program aims to distribute some 2 billion vaccines to poorer countries by the end of 2021. —Chao Deng contributed to this article. Write to Ryan Dube at [email protected]
一受试者患病 秘鲁暂停中国疫苗临床试验
秘鲁宣布，出于谨慎理由，暂停对中国国药集团（Sinopharm）候选疫苗的临床试验。此前，一受试者确诊发生神经系统问题。
格林巴利综合症是疫苗常见的严重副作用，很危险的，如果肌肉瘫痪波及到呼吸肌会致死，比面瘫可是严重多了
还有个法国Sanofi的疫苗研发也出问题了，免疫反应不够，需要推倒重来，他们还拿了美国政府21亿的投资。本来药物开发就是个高风险活动，失败几个很正常。
Peru Halts Trial for Chinese Covid-19 Vaccine Health Ministry says trial for Sinopharm vaccine was temporarily suspended after a volunteer presented neurological problems
LIMA, Peru—Peru’s Health Ministry said Saturday it has suspended a trial for a Chinese Covid-19 vaccine after a participant presented health problems. The Healthy Ministry said a trial with 12,000 volunteers for China’s Sinopharm vaccine has been temporarily put on hold as it investigates whether the vaccine caused what it described as a “serious adverse event” in one of the participants. The trial was expected to finish in the coming days. Germán Málaga, a health researcher at the Cayetano Heredia University in Lima, where the trial is taking place, said a volunteer presented neurological problems, resulting in difficulty moving his legs. Dr. Málaga told radio station RPP Noticias that he didn’t believe the health problem was due to the vaccine, but more information was needed. “We are concerned about the situation, and we are providing all of our help and support to ensure that it is cleared up,” he said. The United Arab Emirates said this week that its own trial for the Sinopharm vaccine had shown that it was 86% effective in protecting people from Covid-19. The U.A.E.’s trial included 31,000 people, although authorities didn’t disclose how many infection cases the efficacy estimate was based on. The more cases, the more reliable the results are considered to be. The analysis of its effectiveness against Covid-19 was also only for a strain of the vaccine developed in Beijing. Another strain has been developed in Wuhan.
In Peru, it isn’t clear which Sinopharm strain was used in the country’s trial. A spokesman for the Health Ministry didn’t respond to requests for comment. Sinopharm didn’t respond to a request for comment. Chinese vaccine makers face pressure to provide clinical evidence that their experimental candidates work, after leading Western vaccines, including one developed by Pfizer Inc. and German partner BioNTech SE, have been shown to be extremely effective. Public-health experts have criticized China for authorizing emergency use of its vaccines, before solid clinical evidence is presented. Sinopharm is testing its vaccines in Argentina, Bahrain, Egypt, Indonesia, Jordan, Morocco and Russia. Egypt and Indonesia have already received early batches of the vaccines. In China, nearly one million people have received vaccines from Sinopharm, including Chinese workers going abroad, government officials and students. Peru has confirmed more than 36,500 deaths from Covid-19, giving it one of the highest per capita mortality rates in the world. The country of 32 million people has signed a deal with Pfizer to receive some 9.9 million doses of its Covid-19 vaccine. Government officials here hope the first batch of that vaccine will be delivered around March or April. Peru also has signed an agreement to receive vaccines from a World Health Organization-backed initiative, called Covax. That program aims to distribute some 2 billion vaccines to poorer countries by the end of 2021. —Chao Deng contributed to this article. Write to Ryan Dube at [email protected]