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Sinopharm: what will they do with the doses that abound in Argentina and do not have a clear recipient

2021-09-16T09:56:53.302Z


Among the possibilities appear the vaccination of minors until applying third doses to doctors. Experts evaluate the different scenarios.


Irene Hartmann

09/16/2021 6:01 AM

  • Clarín.com

  • Society

Updated 09/16/2021 6:01 AM

Sometimes one miscalculates and surpluses.

Others, stock it for later.

However, after applying the second pending doses of Sinopharm, almost

5.3 million vaccines 

will remain

without

clear recipient.

Among the possibilities would appear its use to immunize

children and adolescents

against Covid

 or use them as

third doses

for health personnel vaccinated last summer.

Overbought Sinopharm vaccines?

It would be hasty to affirm such a thing, when the campaign is underway and the stock of vaccines, both in the swollen national limbo of distribution and in the provincial mini-limbs of the application,

is very large

.

At the end of this note, of the 60,217,440 doses that reached the country, almost

13 million (21%)

were either not distributed to the provinces, or were distributed but not yet applied.

It must be clarified that Sinopharm has a very specific use in Argentina:

over 18 years of age and in "pure" form, without mixtures

.

It is not authorized for minors and it was not authorized (although there are studies that offer contradictory information on this) to complete heterologous schemes (that is, "mixed", with doses from different laboratories), a leading strategy these days, given the lack of the component Sputnik 2.

Official data show that

22.9 million doses

of the vaccine produced in China

arrived, but 15 million were applied

: 8.8 million as dose 1 and 6.3 million as dose 2.

Storage of doses of the Covid vaccine produced by the Sinopharm laboratory.

/Presidency

Subtracting those that will be used to complete the started schemes, there are

5,274,338 doses, for now, in stock

.

And there is still almost eight million more to arrive.


Official voice


Regarding the debated "third dose", the Ministry of Health limited themselves to answering the classic "opportunity and strategies are being evaluated around the world."

Regarding the use of Sinopharm in the pediatric population, it must be remembered that although the WHO approved it for those over 18, in China it is used in children from 3 years of age, despite the fact that phase 1 and 2 studies in that population did not they were, as yet, in

no scientific publication

with safety and efficacy data.

It is for this context that the Ministry responded to

Clarín

that "the emergency authorization of that group is needed, for which

the laboratory

is awaiting the

submission of the necessary information

for the evaluation by the ANMAT to be carried out."

In the ANMAT, in turn, they answered that "it is the Ministry of Health that is in contact with the owner of the product."

And of the use in minors, they pointed out: "

You must finish providing the necessary information to validate said indication

."

The indication to use it in children and adolescents.

Third dose

Ricardo Rüttimann

is an infectologist at the Center for Infectious Studies Foundation (Funcei) and a member of the National Immunization Commission (CoNaIn), the area in which these issues are debated.

“Of the reinforcements, I would be very cautious in the indication.

If I had to say which population to look at, it would be the

immunocompromised hosts

, which suffer the most in the antibody response.

In healthy people, it is not clear to me that it is necessary to give them a booster dose ”, he said.

Medical personnel in an intensive care unit in Florencio Varela, province of Buenos Aires.

Photo: EFE

But the doctor added an illuminating fact: "The issue will be 

defined when winter begins in the northern hemisphere

, due to the possibility of adopting the strategy of concomitantly administering flu and Covid vaccines."

They would not be unified vaccines but "

simultaneous doses

", he reported before sharing with this chronicler the news of recent days: that the United Kingdom began to give the third dose for people over 50. 

Nuances

Jorge Geffner

, immunologist (head of "Immunology" at the Faculty of Medicine of the UBA and Senior Researcher at INBIRS-Conicet), joined the debate: "In Europe they have already decided to give a

third dose to people with some level of lack of commitment

".

"

That perspective is correct and logical,

" he opined. However, very cautiously he raised the following reasoning:


On the one hand, he said that the latest data from CABA and the province of Buenos Aires indicate that "

for now there is no break in the immunity of people vaccinated eight or nine months ago

."

However, he clarified, "

at some point it will be necessary to give third doses

,

because this is not like measles or polio, which you give it to when you are a child and it lasts a lifetime ”.

Now, if Argentina decided to add a third dose to its vaccination program,

Geffner for now would not support using Sinopharm

, "whenever it is possible to choose, because it is different if there are no other doses available."

To explain it, he distinguished two concepts:

immunogenicity 

of vaccines, that is, how much they raise the levels of antibodies;

the

effectiveness

, ie they protect the disease Covid.

Vaccination campaign against the coronavirus for children with risk factors.

Photo: Xinhua

The Sinopharm vaccine works very well for the latter but not so well for the former.

“It is

a little less immunogenic

or powerful than the others, which does not translate into protection against the disease, an objective that it has been fulfilling very, very well.

I would say that it

prevents

hospitalizations

by more than 90%

”, he stressed.

However, "if a

loss

in effectiveness is seen, which is very likely to occur around 

November, December or January

, it would be necessary to see if Sinopharm is the best option as a reinforcement," he relativized.

Boys

Rüttimann explained that the pediatric use of Sinopharm "is being evaluated", that "the

ANMAT did not receive all the necessary information

" and that "it must be the vaccine

with the fewest

scientific

publications

in recent months".


However, for Geffner "

Sinopharm would be an ideal vaccine to give to children under 18 years

."

“The ANMAT has to access the data in children, but it must be considered that Chile approved the use of Sinovac (or Coronavac) in minors, which is a vaccine almost identical to Sinopharm: they are the only ones with

 inactivated virus

.

Although they are a little less immunogenic, they are

very effective

in preventing severe infection,

very safe 

and the ones that have the

least

associated

side effects

”, he compared.

But solvency, in these cases, is linked to evidence.

Unlike Sinopharm,

Sinovac / Coronavac published a paper

in June, in the prestigious

The Lancet

, with positive phase 1-2 results in the use of the vaccine in people older than 3 years. 

Vaccination against Covid for adolescents between 12 and 17 years of age with prioritized conditions in CABA.

/ GCBA

However, and despite this documentary deficit, Geffner considered that “if approved, Sinopharm would be a great tool to immunize minors.

In principle, boys without comorbidity from 12 to 17 years old.

But for

5 to 12 year olds

it could also be an excellent option ”.

$

Look also

Despite the fact that the Nation announced the vaccination of adolescents again, the City once again postponed it

The Cristo Redentor Pass reopened in Mendoza: it is the first land crossing in the country to be enabled in a pandemic

Source: clarin

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