International [Chinese COVID Vaccines News] After Sowing Propaganda Against mRNA Tech, China Realize They Needs It

Turkey receives 6.5 million doses of China's Sinovac vaccine
JAN 25, 2021

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Turkey received 6.5 million further doses of the COVID-19 vaccine developed by China's Sinovac Biotech on Monday, several local media reports said, allowing a nationwide rollout to continue.

The new shipment adds to an initial consignment of three million doses which Turkey received nearly a month ago. It has so far vaccinated 1.257 million people, mostly health workers and elderly people, according to health ministry data.

Television footage from state-owned Anadolu news agency showed containers being unloaded at Istanbul Airport after their arrival from Beijing. The latest shipment is part of a second consignment which will total 10 million doses.

About 600,000 people were vaccinated in just two days when the vaccine rollout began in mid-January, but the pace slowed as it moved beyond healthcare workers.

The health ministry will test the new shipment, a process which medics say takes around two weeks, before the vaccines are administered. That means Turkey would be constrained to around 100,000 inoculations per day for the next two weeks.

Turkey has recorded more than 2.4 million infections and 25,073 deaths due to COVID-19. A rise in cases over recent months led the government to introduce weekend lockdowns since December but daily cases have dropped to below 6,000 in recent days, from a high of more than 33,000 in early December.

Measures to combat the spread of the coronavirus in spring last year led to a sharp slowdown in Turkey's economy in the second quarter, and the government has taken a series of measures to ease the burden and revive activity.

In the latest move, published in the country's Official Gazette, the state revenues authority said income tax, withholding tax and sales tax payments for businesses which were closed due to the pandemic will be deferred after it declared force majeure effective as of Dec. 1 last year.

Finance Minister Lutfi Elvan wrote on Twitter that cafes, cinemas and various sports facilities that have been closed due to lockdowns would benefit from the move.

https://mobile.reuters.com/article/amp/idUSKBN29U0BX
 
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Serbia's leader is proud to give citizens Chinese vaccine

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People wait for a COVID-19 vaccine, at Belgrade Fair makeshift vaccination center, in Belgrade, Serbia, Monday, Jan. 25, 2021. Serbia were the first European country to receive the Chinese Sinopharm's vaccine.

BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Serbia’s leader expressed his gratitude to Chinese President Xi Jinping on Wednesday for 1 million doses of a COVID-19 vaccine, saying he is proud Serbia became the first European country to give its population the shots made in China.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said after meeting with the Chinese ambassador in Belgrade that by receiving the Sinopharm vaccine, “the citizens of our country expressed deep trust in the Chinese vaccine and with that also in the Chinese state and Chinese experts.”

This was not the first time the populist president publicly praised China and its Communist Party leader. Vucic kissed the Chinese flag when China delivered masks and other protective equipment in March 2020, and he criticized the European Union for an alleged lack of solidarity at the start of the coronavirus pandemic.

Vucic was less critical of the EU this time, although he has said that he “felt sick” when he learned that some unnamed member nations secured vaccine doses multiple times above the number needed to inoculate their populations while holding back on deliveries to poorer countries.

Although Serbia is formally seeking EU membership, it has at the same time turned to both China and Russia which has also promised to supply large quantities of the Russian-developed Sputnik V vaccine.

Vucic's office said in a statement on Wednesday that he spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin, urging him to deliver additional doses of the Russian vaccine “so Serbian citizens can get reliable protection from the coronavirus as soon as possible."

Vucic also said that Serbia will build a facility with the help of Russian experts to produce the Sputnik V vaccines.

There have been widespread concerns in the EU about the safety and effectiveness of the Chinese and Russian vaccines, as they have not followed all required trials before getting approval in their countries.

However, Hungary broke ranks with the EU by granting provisional licenses to both Sinopharm and Sputnik V. Russian scientists say Sputnik V appears safe and effective against COVID-19, according to early results of an advanced study published Tuesday in a British medical journal.

Vaccine delivery is turning into a foreign policy matter in the Balkans, which were promised EU help in securing does through the U.N.-backed COVAX Facility, but no shots have been delivered through the program so far.

Serbia managed to purchase the Chinese vaccine and smaller quantities of Sputnik V and the Pfizer-BioN-Tech vaccines through direct deals, helping the country launch one of the quickest vaccination campaigns in Europe.

Vucic urged China Wednesday to deliver the rest of the Serbia's ordered vaccines as soon as possible. He did not specify the quantity.

https://news.yahoo.com/amphtml/leader-says-serbia-proud-citizens-151645358.html
 
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China to send 10 million coronavirus vaccine doses abroad through the WHO's COVAX initiative
By HUIZHONG WU | February 3, 2021​

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China on Wednesday announced a plan to provide 10 million coronavirus vaccine doses to developing nations through the global COVAX initiative as part of its ambitious diplomatic and business efforts to distribute Chinese vaccines around the world.

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said China is responding to a request from the World Health Organization as developing countries seek to fill shortages predicted to run through March. He did not offer details on which vaccine China was providing to COVAX, or whether it was a donation.

China has already shipped large numbers of doses of its own vaccines, mainly to developing countries. It has pursued deals or donations with more than 30 nations far exceeding the 10 million doses it is providing to COVAX. In Turkey alone, Chinese company Sinovac Biotech Ltd. has struck a deal to sell 50 million doses.

Its global efforts are seen by many as an attempt to boost China’s reputation as it seeks to repair its image after the first cases of the coronavirus were detected in the central Chinese city of Wuhan in late 2019. Earlier on during the pandemic, China donated face masks and protective gear to countries around the world as part of a diplomatic push. It has called the virus a mutual challenge facing humanity and even suggested it may have been brought from outside the country.

It agreed to join COVAX, coordinated by the World Health Organization and GAVI, the Vaccine Alliance, last October, notably when the U.S. under then President Donald Trump had declined to join.

COVAX seeks to ensure that low- and middle-income countries have enough vaccines as wealthy nations have snapped up a large part of the billions of upcoming doses from mostly Western vaccine makers.

“We hope countries in the international community with the capability will swing into action, support COVAX through practical actions, support the work of the World Health Organization, assist developing countries in obtaining vaccines in a timely manner and contribute to ... conquering the pandemic at an early date,” Wang said a daily briefing.

WHO is in the process of approving Chinese vaccines for emergency use, he added.

So far, COVAX has secured only a fraction of the 2 billion doses it hoped to buy in 2021. Pfizer last month committed to supply up to 40 million doses of its COVID-19 vaccine this year through COVAX. The facility also has 150 million doses of the vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University.

Two Chinese companies, state-owned Sinopharm and Sinovac, have been behind a large part of the effort to take Chinese vaccines abroad, which has largely happened outside the COVAX framework. Both companies’ vaccines are inactivated, relying on a traditional technology of growing and killing a live virus. The virus is then purified before it is given as an injection.

The inactivated vaccines appear to be less effective than more modern mRNA vaccines. However, they are easier to transport than Pfizer’s mRNA vaccine, which requires ultracold storage, a challenge for many lower-income countries.

Only one of the vaccines, made by Sinopharm, has been approved for general use within China. Both, however, have won either emergency or broader approvals in other countries, and are actively being used in mass vaccination campaigns from the United Arab Emirates to Indonesia.

The vaccines have been criticized for a lack of transparency in data from the final stage of clinical trials. Sinopharm said its vaccine is 79.3% effective. Sinovac’s shot in particular has raised concerns after it initially announced an efficacy rate of 78% at protecting against symptomatic illness, but after counting mild cases announced that effectiveness is just over 50%, based on its trial in Brazil.

https://apnews.com/article/world-news-china-coronavirus-pandemic-42eef1911402f4ff13744fc87891c2aa
 
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Squeezed out of the race for Western vaccines, developing countries turn to China
By Lucien O. Chauvin, Anthony Faiola and Eva Dou | Feb. 16, 2021​

LIMA, Peru — Tour operator Marco Arellano’s business shuttling tourists to Machu Picchu and the Amazon jungle effectively ground to a halt during the coronavirus pandemic. Now, as this South American nation is caught in the throes of a brutal second wave, he and millions of other Peruvians are putting their faith in one country to turn the deadly tide.

Peru has joined developing nations from North Africa to the Andes in counting on China for help. For these customers, the vaccines developed in Chinese laboratories and now being distributed globally could hold the solution to a massive problem: how to inoculate their populations after bigger and richer nations have pushed them to the back of the line for the more reliable vaccines developed in the West.

For Beijing, which has invested heavily in a region seen by Washington as America’s backyard, its vaccine diplomacy could be a double win: a way to open new markets for its pharmaceutical products while building goodwill in Latin America, a region where it has long sought to expand its influence.

But the opacity of the Chinese operations and the lack of published clinical data on the vaccines are raising questions about effectiveness and safety — and about the ability of Chinese laboratories to deliver millions of doses in double-quick time. In some countries, complaints over delays are already building.

For countries such as Peru, however, the Chinese vaccine is offering a possible fast track toward reaching herd immunity, or about 70 percent the population.

Peru this month reached deals for significant supplies of Western vaccines after months of being largely shut out by wealthier countries. Yet even if all of those agreements pan out — a challenge, given the delays and complications being witnessed in advanced economies — this country of 33 million would still only be able to inoculate about half its population without Chinese vaccines.

“The Chinese vaccine is a solution for a country like Peru,” Arellano said. He’s counting on his government’s pledge that its Chinese deal will allow mass vaccinations in the coming months and begin to revive the economy. “It will restore confidence.”

As the pandemic spills into 2021, vaccine rollouts even in many wealthy countries are going slowly. But in many developing nations, they haven’t started at all.

Critics warn of a potentially devastating gap in vaccine access between richer and poorer countries. The World Bank has said small and medium-sized developing nations could end up six months to a year behind larger developing nations and advanced economies in reaching “widespread” vaccine coverage. That gap could allow the pandemic — and its painful economic effects — to rage on far longer in the countries than can least afford it.

The World Health Organization says a global effort to get vaccines to many of those countries, known as Covax, is now on track, and has struck enough deals to meet a goal of distributing 2 billion doses by year’s end.

Yet that goal still amounts to relatively modest coverage — about 20 percent of the population in most countries reliant on the program. And some international health officials concede privately that even that might not be reachable.

One big problem: Wealthier nations have locked up so many doses of Western vaccines — in some cases securing contracts for two or three times their populations — that they’ve effectively squeezed out countries with shallower pockets and less diplomatic might. The Economist Intelligence Unit says dozens of developing nations might have to wait until 2023 for widespread inoculations.

“We have countries that have purchased huge amounts of vaccine,” said Jarbas Barbosa, assistant director of the Pan American Health Organization. “We will need more international solidarity.”

The scarcity has left developing countries looking to China, and, to a lesser extent, Russia. China’s state-run Sinopharm and private Chinese lab Sinovac Biotech have begun global rollouts. Trial data from Brazil showed the Sinovac vaccine to be only slightly more than 50 percent effective — compared to, say, the 95 percent rate for the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. Nevertheless, it already has a queue of clients, including Indonesia, Brazil, Thailand and Turkey.

The Sinopharm vaccine, with a self-reported efficacy rate of 79 percent but none of the publicly released clinical data issued by several Western vaccines, is being purchased more widely, by nations including Egypt, Cambodia, Senegal and Peru.

“Covid can be a real game changer for China,” said Jennifer Huang Bouey, a China expert and epidemiologist at the RAND Corporation. “They have never seen such large international demand for their pharmaceutical products.”

Few countries are counting on China more than Peru, which as recently as September had the world’s highest coronavirus mortality rate. Lockdowns have slammed the economy, sparking a recession that drove unemployment to 16 percent and spiked the poverty rate by 10 percentage points to nearly a third of the population. President Francisco Sagasti has announced a 14-day lockdown for Lima and nine regional departments, closing down all but a handful of essential sectors for just over one-half the population.

“Don’t even mention [the pandemic running into] 2022,” said Julia Mamani, a 26-year-old peddling water at a Lima traffic light. She lost her full-time job at a phone supply store that shuttered amid last’s year’s lockdowns. “I want things back to normal.”

So does most everyone else in Peru. Initial talks with Western laboratories were largely unsuccessful, hampered by its limited resources, the companies’ demands and the political turmoil that led to three presidents in nine days in November.

Sagasti has announced an agreement for 250,000 Pfizer doses in March and 300,000 more in April, part of larger deal for 20 million doses in “the coming months.”

He said another 517,000 doses — from both Pfizer and the Swedish-British firm AstraZeneca —would arrive via Covax by March, part of a pledge that includes 1.18 million more to come at some later date. Peru also has a private deal with AstraZeneca for 14 million doses due in September at the earliest.

Assuming all those doses arrive on time, they would cover a little more than half the population. Many would land after wealthier nations — including some of Peru’s better-off neighbors — are already well into their inoculation programs.

Enter China, a country that has displaced the United States as Peru’s top trading partner, and is now deeply involved in Peruvian mining, electricity distribution and shipping, including plans to build a gleaming new port near the capital.

Sinopharm started vaccine trials in Peru in September, using 11,800 volunteers. Last month, Sagasti announced a deal to buy 38 million doses of the two-shot vaccine, with the first million expected to arrive in the coming days. He suggested the vaccine, which does not require the specialized cold storage of others, would be delivered rapidly in the coming months, allowing the government to meet its target to vaccinate almost half the population before the start of the Southern Hemisphere winter in June.

Perhaps anticipating dissent, the president made a point of noting that it’s “perfectly safe.”

But critics say Peru, shut out of Western vaccines, has essentially been forced to buy a less trustworthy product.

“The fact that Peru and several other poorer countries are willing to enter these deals [with China] without full public transparency as to the vaccine’s effectiveness illustrates the mounting challenges they face in accessing the high-cost [Western] vaccines,” said Nicholas Lusiani, senior adviser at the anti-poverty group Oxfam America.

Without China’s vaccine, it could take Peru into distant 2022 before it reached herd immunity, prolonging both the pandemic and its economic pain. But doubts remain about China’s ability to deliver as fast as the Peruvian government hopes, and even Peruvian officials say they’re still working out a shipment timeline.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry has acknowledged the challenge.

“While striving to meet our huge domestic demand, we've been trying our best to advance vaccine cooperation with other countries through various means, especially with developing countries, to offer them much-needed support and help,” spokeswoman Hua Chunying told reporters in Beijing.

Sinopharm says it will make 1 billion doses this year for domestic and foreign use. Analysts estimate the firm’s current production capacity at 300 million doses, meaning it must build new factories or expand existing facilities to meet that target.

China National Pharmaceutical Group Corp. — Sinopharm — did not respond to a request for comment. Chinese media reports have not mentioned a delivery date for Peru’s 38 million doses, and state media have mentioned only the initial 1 million doses that have arrived.

“There are agreements, but we have to see when doses arrive and how they arrive,” said Angela Uyen, a Peruvian physician with Doctors Without Borders. “Will they come at once or in stages? Are we sure about the production capacity? These are questions that have not been answered.”

Peru faces a distribution challenge across a geography that ranges from soaring Andean peaks and remote villages along Amazon jungle rivers. The plans will be complicated by political instability and mounting allegations of corruption, which have further eroded trust in politicians, institutions and even vaccines.

Polls indicate any vaccine could be a hard sell here, particularly as conspiracy theories circulate — including false claims that the Sinopharm vaccine causes DNA mutations. According to Ipsos Peru, the percentage of Peruvians saying they would be vaccinated has fallen from 75 percent in August to 56 percent this month.

The rollout has now been marred by a scandal that media here have dubbed “vaccine-gate.” The country’s health minister and foreign affairs minister have stepped down after receiving Sinopharm’s vaccine in December and January while it was still in the experimental stage. The scandal began when former president Martín Vizcarra, who was impeached in November, admitted that he and his wife had been vaccinated in October.

Peruvian congressman and vaccine critic Posemoscrowte Chagua, a medical doctor, has objected to the Sinopharm deal.

“The Chinese vaccine should not be applied because it has not gone through rigorous clinical trials,” he said. “They have not finished Phase 3 of the trials and they want to start vaccinating people. This is unacceptable.”

The Peruvian Medical Federation, however, is on board. Infectious-disease specialist Ciro Maguiña, No. 2 at the federation, said he thinks the Sinopharm vaccine is safe.

“Sinopharm tests are above 75 percent, and a vaccine above 75 percent is successful,” he said.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2021/02/16/coronavirus-peru-china-vaccine-sinopharm-sinovac/
 
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Philippines getting all vaccines that China can spare
By Pia Lee-Brago(Philstar.com) - January 18, 2021​

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines is getting as many COVID-19 vaccines as possible from China as Beijing claimed that its vaccines hold a “stronger” appeal for the majority of nations, especially developing countries.

“We’re getting as many Chinese vaccines as China can spare, so there’s enough for everyone – very soon. Finally,” Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. said on Twitter yesterday.

Despite facing questions on the lack of transparency and low efficacy rates, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said the Chinese COVID-19 vaccines have stronger appeal since these do not require ultra-low temperature for storage and shipment, and Chinese vaccines have good efficacy and safety data.

“Therefore I understand for the vast majority of countries, especially developing countries, Chinese vaccines hold a stronger appeal in this regard,” Zhao said in a press conference in Beijing on Friday.

“You may also ask competent authorities or relevant companies for more specifics,” he added.

Fourteen Chinese vaccines are in clinical trial, including five in stage three trial, and all have proven their safety through earlier animal tests as well as stage one, two and three trials, according to Zhao.

China, he said, pledged that COVID-19 vaccine development and deployment in China, when available, will be made a global public good that helps ensure vaccine accessibility and affordability for developing countries.

Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi talked about vaccine aid for and in cooperation with Southeast Asian countries during his visits last week.

The Department of Foreign Affairs said Wang, who was on a two-day official visit to Manila, informed Locsin of China’s intention to donate 500,000 doses of vaccines to the Philippines during a meeting last Saturday.

https://www.philstar.com/headlines/...nes-getting-all-vaccines-china-can-spare/amp/
 
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Philippines' FDA: No EUA, no Sinovac in Philippines
By Robertzon Ramirez(Philstar.com) - February 18, 2021​

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MANILA, Philippines — The expected arrival of Sinovac vaccines from China on Feb. 23 is still up in the air as the company has yet to submit four required documents to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

In an interview with “The Chiefs” aired on One News/TV5 last Tuesday night, FDA director general Eric Domingo said the agency could not yet decide on the application of Sinovac for emergency use authorization (EUA) because the vaccine maker has not completed its documents.

“If they are not approved by Feb. 23, they cannot bring or use it (here). You need an authorization to use a vaccine in the Philippines,” Domingo said.

The vaccine expert panel had a meeting with Sinovac last Monday night, and the company “promised” to submit its pending documents within the week, according to the FDA chief.

Domingo said he could not ascertain when the FDA could issue Sinovac’s EUA as he underscored that this “depends on the company.”

“I cannot set a date… It’s a 50-50 chance. It does not solely depend on me because if I’m going to make a decision, I’m going to make a conscious decision,” he added.

As part of protocol, an application for EUA goes through the Ethics Board, vaccine expert panel and the FDA for evaluation of the vaccine’s safety or efficacy profile, quality and manufacturing, among others.

Domingo said it took them only 21 days to issue the EUA of Pfizer-BioNTech and AstraZeneca because unlike Sinovac, they have already passed stringent regulatory authorities in other countries.

“I’d rather see and wait if (Sinovac is) able to submit everything that we require, and then make a decision based on that. It depends on when (it) can complete (its) documents,” he added.

But if Sinovac is lacking four documents, the Gamaleya Center of Russia is short of 14 documents for its application for EUA for Sputnik vaccines, according to Domingo.


“That’s going to take a little longer. We are asking for four documents from Sinovac and 14 from Gamaleya. Maybe, it’s lost in translation,” he said.

The FDA chief added that Gamaleya had submitted documents in different formats, among other errors.

“It’s very difficult sometimes. Our teams had several meetings with them, and I hope they now understand each other,” he said.


Stonewalled
Meanwhile, the FDA continues to be stonewalled by authorities involved in the inoculation of Presidential Security Group (PSG) personnel using smuggled COVID-19 vaccines from China.

Domingo said he and Health Secretary Francisco Duque III have been seeking the list of vaccinees from the PSG and the Department of National Defense (DND), but to no avail.

“We have been writing them, but so far, it’s been a blank wall… We have been trying to get all the details, so at least we can monitor these specific individuals who (had been) given this vaccine,” Domingo said in the same “The Chiefs” episode.


The FDA chief added that they have already coordinated with Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana and PSG commander Col. Jesus Durante III, but they failed to get the names of the recipients and any information about the vaccination program.

Domingo noted that the Bureau of Customs (BOC) is now checking all shipments of vaccines that arrived in the country in September and October last year.

The PSG reportedly used Sinopharm vaccines in inoculating its men against COVID-19.


Domingo, however, underscored that Sinopharm has not applied for a permit to be used in the country.

“Smuggling is illegal in the country. Bringing in the product without permit or registration is a crime, and using product that is unauthorized, they do have liabilities for that,” he said.

He added that even if the FDA had issued “compassionate special permit (CSP)” for some 10,000 doses of Sinopharm vaccines donated to the PSG, the permit is not retroactive.

The CSP does not cover previous vaccination activities of the PSG, according to Domingo.

https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2021/02/18/2078548/fda-no-eua-no-sinovac-philippines/amp/
 
China in some domains is still crap but keeps investing.
 
Yikes. 50% reduction in symptomatic cases. It's basically just a flu shot
 
Serbia's leader is proud to give citizens Chinese vaccine

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People wait for a COVID-19 vaccine, at Belgrade Fair makeshift vaccination center, in Belgrade, Serbia, Monday, Jan. 25, 2021. Serbia were the first European country to receive the Chinese Sinopharm's vaccine.


https://news.yahoo.com/amphtml/leader-says-serbia-proud-citizens-151645358.html

Vucic kissed the Chinese flag when China delivered masks and other protective equipment in March 2020, and he criticized the European Union for an alleged lack of solidarity at the start of the coronavirus pandemic.

Unfortunately he is a Russian-Chinese puppet. But look at Hungary, Orban is a Russian-Chinese dog inside the EU.

The Russians are so proud that they would prefer dying than receiving a vaccine from the West.

Honestly China is doing good things in some parts of the world, but their vaccine is crap.
 
Vucic kissed the Chinese flag when China delivered masks and other protective equipment in March 2020, and he criticized the European Union for an alleged lack of solidarity at the start of the coronavirus pandemic.

Unfortunately he is a Russian-Chinese puppet. But look at Hungary, Orban is a Russian-Chinese dog inside the EU.

The Russians are so proud that they would prefer dying than receiving a vaccine from the West.

Honestly China is doing good things in some parts of the world, but their vaccine is crap.

Yeah well you know what they say, the best vaccine is the one that you can get. At this point China's crappy vaccine is still better than nothing for these guys since they can't get the good stuff.

Johnson & Johnson's $10, 66%-effective single-shot vaccines couldn't get here fast enough. Much of the world can really use it right now.
 
Mexico leans on China after Biden rules out vaccines sharing in short term
MAR 9, 2021

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(Reuters) - Mexico is turning to China to fill a vaccine shortfall with an order for 22 million doses, Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard said on Tuesday, a week after U.S. President Joe Biden ruled out sharing vaccines with Mexico in the short term.

President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador spearheaded efforts to attain more help from China, Ebrard said.

"As a result of a process personally led by the president of the republic, we have received the confirmation that we will have an expansion of up to 22 million doses," Ebrard said during Lopez Obrador's regular news conference.

Mexico's vaccine roll out has been criticized as overly slow, though officials say they've been hampered by delays in receiving vaccines amid global shortages.

The Biden administration appeared to have turned down Lopez Obrador's request, at least in the short term, for the United States to share its vaccines by saying the immediate priority is to inoculate American citizens.

Mexico is now pinning its hopes on receiving some vaccines from the United States once Biden meets his goal of inoculating 100 million Americans in 100 days, a deadline due in late April.

Ebrard said Mexico has placed an order for an additional 10 million doses of China's Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine to be delivered between May and July, on top of the 10 million already ordered, which are due to arrive between March and May.

Mexico will also order 12 million vaccine doses made by the state-backed China National Pharmaceutical Group (Sinopharm) once it has been approved by its health regulator, Ebrard added.

https://mobile.reuters.com/article/amp/idUSKBN2B11OY

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Sorry @Rod1 , I actually think we should immediately share with you guys (and Canada) the tens of millions of doses of yet-to-be-approved AstraZeneca currently sitting in our storage that we have no plans to deploy anytime soon.

The plan is to start sharing in May or June, but the urgent need is now.
 
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That’s criminal. The us isn’t using the AZT shots and probably never will. Why sit on them when Mexico could use them right now?
 
That’s criminal. The us isn’t using the AZT shots and probably never will. Why sit on them when Mexico could use them right now?
Worry about it after we get the US citizens vaccinated, IMO. Its not a good look to send vaccine out of the country when the majority in the country still haven't had it.
 
That’s criminal. The us isn’t using the AZT shots and probably never will. Why sit on them when Mexico could use them right now?

Worry about it after we get the US citizens vaccinated, IMO. Its not a good look to send vaccine out of the country when the majority in the country still haven't had it.

That's all it is, I'm afraid. Political optics.

The AstraZeneca U.S trial is still on-going right now. Until that's wrapped up weeks from now, AstraZeneca is not requesting the FDA for emergency use. Until there's actually an EUA request, the U.S has no plan to approve it for Americans. Until there's approval for Americans, the millions upon millions of AstraZeneca vials being churned out of U.S production lines go straight into storage, and that stash is growing bigger and bigger each day, since we pre-paid for 300M doses.

Let's be realistic here, as long as the Pfizer, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson supplies continue to flow, you'll probably get yours before the first dose of AstraZeneca ever get to your state months from now.

We are quite literally hoarding what we have no use for, while our desperate neighbors are scraping every corner of the world for anything that's left - and that's the 50%-effective Chinese stuff.

I say we should sell off our entire unused AstraZeneca stash at-cost and get that investment back. Helping people, while not really losing anything.
 
Sorry @Rod1 , I actually think we should immediately share with you guys (and Canada) the 60 million doses of yet-to-be-approved AstraZeneca currently sitting in our storage that we have no plans to deploy anytime soon.

Yeah, kind of weird to do so, but maybe Biden doesn't wants to give AMLO a win considering elections are coming soon and how AMLO was so close to Trump and overall a chaotic element.

Worry about it after we get the US citizens vaccinated, IMO. Its not a good look to send vaccine out of the country when the majority in the country still haven't had it.

AstraZeneca vaccine hasn't been approved by the FDA.
 
Worry about it after we get the US citizens vaccinated, IMO. Its not a good look to send vaccine out of the country when the majority in the country still haven't had it.
But those are vaccines that aren't approved. Why sit on them. Also there are plenty of others and in sufficient numbers
 
That's all it is, I'm afraid. Political optics.

The AstraZeneca U.S trial is still on-going right now. Until that's wrapped up weeks from now, AstraZeneca is not requesting the FDA for emergency use. Until there's actually an EUA request, the U.S has no plan to approve it for Americans. Until there's approval for Americans, the millions upon millions of AstraZeneca vials being churned out of U.S production lines go straight into storage, and that stash is growing bigger and bigger each day, since we pre-paid for 300M doses.

Let's be realistic here, as long as the Pfizer, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson supplies continue to flow, you'll probably get yours before the first dose of AstraZeneca ever get to your state months from now.

We are quite literally hoarding what we have no use for, while our desperate neighbors are scraping every corner of the world for anything that's left - and that's the 50%-effective Chinese stuff.

I say we should sell off our entire unused AstraZeneca stash at-cost and get that investment back. Helping people, while not really losing anything.
We don't have to send all of them. What is the current stock? Millions? Could send a few million for now to tide them over til production of others ramps up. We can still sit on a few million doses, but could easily spare many to send, as JNJ NVAX and of course Moderna and Pfizer are producing them.
 
We don't have to send all of them. What is the current stock? Millions? Could send a few million for now to tide them over til production of others ramps up. We can still sit on a few million doses, but could easily spare many to send, as JNJ NVAX and of course Moderna and Pfizer are producing them.

Last month AstraZeneca says they have 30 Million doses ready to go in the U.S, and their U.S production lines are capable of churning out 25 Millions more doses per month at full capacity.

Biden's projected timeline to have all Americans vaccinated by Summer does NOT take this completely-unused AstraZeneca stockpile into account, since they are not going to be approved anytime soon.

If we are not selling/donating what we have no plan to actually use now, and wait until well after everyone else already turned to the Chinese for help, most - if not all - of that 300M AstraZeneca purchase order would remains in stockpile for the rest of their 6-month shelf life, and then tossed in the trash when they expires.
 
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Mexico to rely heavily on Chinese-made coronavirus vaccines, even with lack of data
Associated Press

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Mexico announced a huge bet on Chinese vaccines Tuesday, without making public any information about their efficacy.

Foreign Relations Secretary Marcelo Ebrard said the Mexican government has signed agreements for 12 million doses of the yet-unapproved Sinopharm vaccine and increased to a total of 20 million doses its contracts for the Coronavac dose made by China’s Sinovac.

Deliveries of Sinovac have already started, with the full 20 million doses expected by July. The Sinopharm vaccines are to be delivered between March and June.

The total of 32 million doses, plus at least 4 million doses of the CanSino shot, would dwarf the estimated 5 million vaccine doses Mexico has acquired so far from other sources.

However, Ebrard’s office has repeatedly refused to answer questions about the efficacy of the Chinese shots.

Sinopharm has claimed its vaccine was 79% effective based on interim data from clinical trials, but like other Chinese firms, it has not publicly released its late-stage clinical trial data.

Experts in Hong Kong have assessed the efficacy of the Sinovac vaccine at about 51%. That shot has already been approved for use in Mexico.

The CanSino vaccine has been approved in Mexico and reportedly has an efficacy rate of around 65.7%,

A total of six vaccines have been approved for use in Mexico, which has received relatively small amounts of each. Mexico has administered only about 4.7 million doses of all vaccines, a tiny amount given the country’s population of 126 million.

The government policy sets up the odd situation in which some Mexicans, mainly in urban areas, will receive the Pfizer vaccine, which has around 95% efficacy, while most will get one of the Chinese vaccines with a much lower effectiveness. Mexico has contracts for a total of about 34 million doses of the Pfizer shot, but deliveries have been slow, with less than a tenth of that amount delivered so far.

Amid a dearth of public data on China’s vaccines, hesitations over their efficacy and safety are still pervasive in the countries depending on them.

Inoculations with Chinese vaccines already have begun in more than 25 countries. None of China’s three vaccine candidates used globally have publicly released their late-stage clinical trial data.

Mexico has suffered almost 190,100 confirmed deaths. However, Mexico does so little testing that government excess-death figures suggest the real toll was well above 220,000 at the start of January, when the government stopped releasing that data. Test-confirmed cases total over 2.1 million.

https://ktla.com/news/nationworld/m...s-vaccines-even-with-lack-of-public-data/amp/
 
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