The Sinopharm BIBP COVID-19 vaccine, also known as BBIBP-CorV, the Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine, or BIBP vaccine, is one of two whole inactivated virus COVID-19 vaccines developed by Sinopharm's Beijing Institute of Biological Products (sometimes written as Beijing Bio-Institute of Biological Products, resulting in the two different acronyms BBIBP and BIBP for the same vaccine). It completed Phase III trials in Argentina, Bahrain, Egypt, Morocco, Pakistan, Peru, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) with over 60,000 participants. BBIBP-CorV shares similar technology with CoronaVac and Covaxin, other inactivated virus vaccines for COVID-19. Its product name is SARS-CoV-2 Vaccine (Vero Cell), not to be confused with the similar product name of CoronaVac. Peer-reviewed results published in JAMA of Phase III trials in United Arab Emirates and Bahrain showed that the vaccine is 78.1% effective against symptomatic cases and 100% against severe cases (21 cases in vaccinated group vs. 95 cases in placebo group). In December 2020, the UAE previously announced interim results showing 86% efficacy. While mRNA vaccines like the Pfizer–BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine and Moderna COVID-19 vaccine showed higher efficacy of over 90%, those present distribution challenges for some nations as they require deep-freeze facilities and trucks. The BIBP vaccine could be transported and stored at normal refrigerated temperatures. The vaccine is being used in vaccination campaigns by certain countries in Asia, Africa, South America, and Europe. Sinopharm expects to produce one billion doses of the vaccine in 2021. By May, Sinopharm had supplied 200 million doses. On 7 May 2021, the World Health Organization approved the BIBP vaccine for use in COVAX. Sinopharm has signed purchase agreements for 170 million doses from COVAX. The similarly named Sinopharm WIBP COVID-19 vaccine is also an inactivated virus vaccine.
Medical uses The vaccine is given by intramuscular injection into the deltoid muscle. The initial course consists of two doses, and there is no evidence that a third booster dose is needed. The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends an interval of 3 to 4 weeks between doses.
Effectiveness A vaccine is generally considered effective if the estimate is ≥50% with a >30% lower limit of the 95% confidence interval. Effectiveness is generally expected to slowly decrease over time. Real-world test-negative analysis in Bahrain (based on 14 days post 2nd dose) indicated a vaccine effectiveness of 90% (95% CI, 88–91%) for adults aged 18–59, and 91% (87–94%) for those 60 year old or older. While confident in its overall efficacy, WHO experts expressed very low confidence in their current ability to determine the safety of the BIBP vaccine for people with comorbidities, pregnant women, and the elderly as they were under-represented in the studies. In April 2021, a study by the Abu Dhabi Public Health Centre found the vaccine was 93% effective in preventing hospitalization and 95% effective against admission to intensive care. The study found no deaths related to COVID-19 in patients who received both doses. It was unknown how many people were included in the research. On 1 July, the Ministry of Health of Argentina reported the vaccine reduced deaths by 62% after the first dose and by 84% after the second dose. On 22 July, Peru's National Institute of Health reported the vaccine reduced deaths by 94% after analyzing data from 361,000 people. On 13 August, a study with 400,000 health workers in Peru from February to June 2021, during a wave mostly caused by the Lambda and Gamma variants, found a vaccine effectiveness of 50% (49–52%) against infection and 94% (91–96%) against death after two doses. With a single dose, the effectiveness was 17% (15–20%) against infections and 46% (30–59%) against death. In June 2022, results from a non-randomized study of one million people in Bahrain, of whom 569,054 received the BIBP vaccine, found that the vaccine continued to reduce infection, hospitalization, and death when the Delta variant became dominant, though not as effectively as Pfizer–BioNTech, Oxford–AstraZeneca and Sputnik V.
Efficacy In December 2020, UAE's Ministry of Health and Prevention previously announced interim analysis showing the vaccine to have a 86% efficacy against COVID-19 infection and nearly 100% efficacy in preventing moderate and severe cases. On 7 May 2021, the World Health Organization reported a vaccine efficacy of 79% (95% CI, 66–88%) against symptomatic disease and 79% (26–94%) against hospitalization. In 26 May, peer-reviewed results published in JAMA of Phase III trials in United Arab Emirates and Bahrain showed the vaccine 74% (61–82%) effective against cases including asymptomatic and symptomatic infections, 78% (95% CI, 65–86%) effective against symptomatic cases, and nearly 100% against severe cases (0 cases in vaccinated group, 2 cases in placebo group). 12,726 people received the vaccine and 12,737 people received the placebo in these trials. As of 1 July, six of the 71 COVID-19 deaths in Seychelles were among the fully vaccinated people. Only one of the six was fully vaccinated by the BIBP vaccine, the remaining five had been fully vaccinated by Covishield, which was mainly reserved for people aged 60 years or more.
Variants In February, lab studies of twelve serum samples taken from recipients of BBBP-CorV and ZF2001 retained neutralizing activity against the Beta variant although with weaker activity than against the original virus. For the BIBP vaccine, geometric mean titers declined by 1.6-fold, from 110.9 to 70.9, which was less than antisera from mRNA vaccine recipients with a 6-folds decrease. Preliminary clinical data from Novavax and Johnson & Johnson also showed they were less effective in preventing COVID-19 in South Africa, where the new variant is widespread. In June, a pre-print study with 282 recipients of the vaccine in Sri Lanka showed that:
… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.
