03/24/2021 11:29 AM
Clarín.com
Society
Updated 03/24/2021 11:29 AM
One million doses of
the Sinopharm vaccine
, of Chinese origin, have
already arrived in the country
, and another three million are expected to arrive soon.
However, so far this vaccine does not have the approval of the ANMAT for its application in people over 60 years of age, so it could not be used for this group that is more vulnerable to the coronavirus.
Given this, and taking into account that the outlook could get complicated, the infectologist Eduardo López points out that in other countries it is already being administered to older adults and that
we should approve it as an emergency and "by analogy"
, although we still do not have phase 3 data about this segment.
“Sinopharm has already completed phase 3, in which they recruited people up to 85 years of age, and they are now in a follow-up stage.
The vaccine has already been approved in 36 countries and some are using it for older adults, including
China, the United Arab Emirates and Hungary,
”
the Gutiérrez Hospital infectologist, who is a member of the committee that advises the President,
explains to
Clarín.
Therefore, and taking into account the urgency, it
would be convenient to authorize it for this group
.
It says that
no serious adverse effects were reported in the elderly
.
“Less than 0.1% of those vaccinated presented notable side effects such as fever;
and only 2 out of a million people suffered serious symptoms such as allergies ”, adds the infectologist, based on data released by Sinopharm.
“We have to hurry to vaccinate the elderly because the situation may get worse: the
Manaus variant
is circulating as a community in Brazil and we have already seen that it has reached Uruguay.
This mutation has high transmissibility and evades the immune system more easily ”, he warns.
And he adds: "The other issue is that winter is approaching and with low temperatures
the chances of contagion rise
, because people gather in closed and poorly ventilated environments and because there are studies that show that the virus is more viable in cold weather. ”, López warns and affirms that one of the ways to increase the vaccination capacity of people with risk factors could have to do with this approval.
There are about
7,300,000 adults over 60 years in Argentina
and, to date, they have received at least 1,183,400 doses, according to López.
The Sinopharm vaccine contains the inactivated virus of the original Wuhan strain.
Two doses of the same component should be applied with an interval of 28 to 30 days.
“The overall efficacy after the second dose is 79% and it
protects almost 100% against severe disease
.
There are no studies on the efficacy of applying a single dose or with an interval that exceeds one month.
For this reason, it is not advisable for people to receive the first dose and postpone the next, as they are thinking of doing with the Covishield / AstraZeneca based on the experience of the United Kingdom ”, he adds.
In the short term, Argentina expects to receive 3 million doses of this vaccine.
In total, Sinopharm announced that it will develop one billion doses during 2021.
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