“This is a study carried out at the request of the World Health Organization (WHO) in collaboration with Chinese scientists”, revealed Pr Redouan Abouqal, principal investigator and national coordinator of the clinical trials of the Sinopharm vaccine. in Morocco and one of the researchers who took part in this study, to our colleagues from Médias24.
“This is a real-world study to assess the effectiveness of the Sinopharm vaccine for preventing hospitalizations for severe forms of Covid-19,” he added. The study was conducted among adults aged 18-99 who tested positive for the Covid-19 virus between February 1 and June 30, 2021. PCR test results were individually linked to the results of the data set on severe or critical Covid-19 hospitalizations, official surveillance data at the national level and vaccination data five months following administering the Sinopharm vaccine.
People who received a partial vaccination (2 weeks following the second dose) or who received any other vaccine once morest Covid-19 were excluded. The study covers a sample of 348,190 individuals. Some 140,892 of them had received two doses of the vaccine, 1,149 had received a booster dose and 206,149 were unvaccinated. It was conducted between February 1 and June 30, 2021, the period of the predominance of the Alpha variant in Morocco. The results demonstrate moderate efficacy in people over the age of 60.
In contrast, vaccination with a booster dose was associated with complete protection regardless of age. In detail, the effectiveness of the two-dose vaccination once morest hospitalization for serious or critical illness was 90.2%. After adjustment by age group, this vaccine efficacy was 96.4% in people under 60 and 53.3% in people aged 60 and over. There were no cases of serious or critical illness among those who received a third dose of vaccine.
According to the study, from February 1, 2021 to June 30, 2021, a total of 436,438 individuals developed severe or critical forms of Covid-19 and were hospitalized. To develop this study, scientists from both countries excluded missing age data (103 people whose age was not specified, in addition to 13,504 people aged under 18 or 100 and over ), people who have taken a vaccine other than Sinopharm (66,676 individuals in total), and those who have been partially vaccinated (6,467 individuals who have taken a single dose of the anti-Covid vaccine), which makes a sample of 348,190 people. As a reminder, the Kingdom approved the BBIBP-CorV (Sinopharm) vaccine once morest Covid-19 for emergency use on January 22, 2021 on a two-dose schedule, with an interval of three to four weeks.
In the same context, it should be noted that Morocco sealed, in July of the previous year, agreements with China relating to the manufacture and syringe placement in Morocco of the anti-Covid-19 vaccine and other vaccines. These agreements are part of HM King Mohammed VI’s desire to provide the Kingdom with complete and integrated industrial and biotechnological capacities, dedicated to the manufacture of vaccines in Morocco.
Among the agreements that have been sealed is the Memorandum on cooperation for the anti-Covid-19 vaccine between the Moroccan State and the National Pharmaceutical Group of China (Sinopharm), signed by the Minister of Health, Mr. Khalid Ait Taleb, and the Chairman of Sinopharm Group, Mr. Liu Jingzhen.
