China’s COVID-19 vaccine is safe: Lancet study

BEIJING: BBIBP-CorV, Chinese COVID-19 vaccine candidate is safe and also promotes antibody response, as found by a study published in The Lancet. A previous test reported the same results for a different vaccine for SARS-CoV2 virus. In this test, people with age below 60 were only tested.

This latest study, published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases journal, included the test on people aged between 18 and 80 years. Participants above the age of 60 took some time in responding and took 42 days to detect the antibodies. Whereas, people aged between 18 and 59 years produced the antibodies in just 28 days.

Xiaoming Yang, Study Author, Beijing Institute of Biological Products Company Limited, China, said that protecting the older population is a vital target of a successful COVID-19 vaccine. People with the age above 60 are most vulnerable to the virus and are at a great risk of severe illness from the disease. He added that it is encouraging to see that BBIBP-CorV stimulates the antibody production in the people aged above 60 years.

BBIBP-CorV vaccine is based on a sample of the virus which was isolated from a patient in China. Stocks of the virus were developed in the lab using cell lines and further inactivated the virus using a chemical named Proprionolactone. The participants were asked to report any harmful reaction for the first seven days after each vaccination.