How the Sinopharm vaccine works

Who developed it?

The state-owned China National Pharmaceutical Group (Sinopharm) and the Beijing Institute of Biological Products (BIBP) jointly developed the Sinopharm vaccine under Sinopharm’s vaccine and bioscience subsidiary, China National Biotec Group (CNBG).

What is its formal name?

Although widely known simply as the Sinopharm vaccine, the company which developed the vaccine calls it the “Sinopharm CNBG COVID-19 vaccine”.

The WHO Strategic Advisory Group of Experts (SAGE), which advises the global body on immunisation, calls it the “COVID-19 vaccine BIBP.”

How was it developed?

From three coronavirus variants obtained from patients in Chinese hospitals, researchers picked one that showed ability to quickly multiply in monkey kidney cells grown in bioreactor tanks. Once large stocks of the coronaviruses were developed, they were inactivated using a chemical called beta-propiolactone. While the inactivated coronaviruses could no longer replicate, their proteins, including the spike, remained intact.

The researchers then drew off the inactivated viruses and mixed them with a tiny amount of an aluminum-based compound called an adjuvant. Adjuvants stimulate the immune system to boost its response to a vaccine.

How does it fight SARS-CoV-2, the virus which causes COVID-19?

As an inactivated virus vaccine, CoronaVac works by using killed viral particles to expose the body’s immune system to the virus, but without risking a serious disease response.

The body responds by generating antibodies, helping the immune system to fight infection by a live coronavirus.

Storage

Like most conventional vaccines, the Sinopharm vaccine is stored within the 2-8 degrees celsius temperature range.

Efficacy and effectiveness

Vaccine efficacy and effectiveness are often confused and used interchangeably.

Efficacy measures the performance of a vaccine measured during a clinical trial, while effectiveness refers to how well the vaccine does in the real world.

WHO experts who reviewed the Sinopharm vaccine’s data say its efficacy for symptomatic and hospitalized disease was estimated to be 79%, all age groups combined.

The experts noted that while few persons aged above 60 years took part in the Sinopharm clinical trials, resulting in limited efficacy data for that age-group, “there is no theoretical reason to believe that the vaccine has a different safety profile in older and younger populations.”

Sources: World Health Organisation, Sinopharm Group, New York Times, Washington Post

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