BEIJING (Reuters) – Two COVID-19 vaccines from Chinese companies, including Sinopharm, triggered immunity against a highly transmissible coronavirus variant first found in South Africa, but their effect appeared weaker, a small laboratory study showed. sample released on Tuesday.
Variants of the virus raised the concern that they could weaken the effects of vaccines and treatments developed before its emergence.
Twelve serum samples, each taken from containers of two vaccines developed by a China National Pharmaceutical Group (Sinopharm) subsidiary and a Chongqing Zhifei Biological Products unit, retained neutralizing activity against the South African variant, their researchers said in an article .
The article was written by researchers at the Beijing Biological Products Institute, affiliated with Sinopharm, the Chinese Academy of Sciences Institute of Microbiology, which is co-developing a candidate with the Zhifei unit, and two other Chinese agencies.
However, the activity of the samples against the variant was weaker than against the original virus and another variant is currently spreading globally, according to the article published on the BioRxiv website before its peer review. bit.ly/3rfr2UZ
The reduction in activity “must be taken into account for its impact on the clinical effectiveness of these vaccines,” they said.
The Sinopharm vaccine is approved in China for general public use and is also used in several other countries, including the United Arab Emirates. Zhifei’s injection is in the final stages of clinical testing in China and abroad.
Data from preliminary clinical trials on vaccines from Novavax Inc and Johnson & Johnson also showed that they were significantly less effective in preventing COVID-19 in trial participants in South Africa, where the new potent variant is widespread.
Reporting by Roxanne Liu and Ryan Woo; Editing by Miyoung Kim and Simon Cameron-Moore