Moroccan Experts Question Safety and Efficacy of Chinese COVID-19 Vaccine

"Our attention has been drawn to a series of legitimate scientific questions concerning this vaccine, the demonstrations of its safety and efficacy and its suitability for the strains currently circulating in Morocco," the researchers say in their letter addressed to the Minister of Health on November 26.

According to the experts, "although the virus has remained relatively stable genetically, more or less significant mutations have been detected, including in the coding region for the surface protein, S, the main target of neutralizing antibodies".

They also indicate that "it would be important to ensure that the vaccine strain used in the Sinopharm vaccine (taken in China very early after the declaration of the epidemic) is protective against the strains circulating in Morocco". These concerns inform their concern, since, they deplore, the clinical trial involved only 600 volunteers, a statistically insufficient number, according to them, to certify the effectiveness of the vaccine.

The experts also ask that the pharmacovigilance plan implemented in Morocco, which allows the detection of long-term side effects, be defined, and that Sinopharm officially make available the results of phase III, as the other laboratories have done. Approaches that will strengthen citizens’ confidence in the vaccine.