Sinopharm Photo: VCG

A recent study showed that an inactivated COVID-19 vaccine developed by Chinese manufacturer Sinopharm presents satisfying immunogenicity and safety levels when administered among senior citizens suffering from hypertension and diabetes mellitus.

The vaccine from Beijing Institute of Biological Products Co, Ltd under Sinopharm showed a 100 percent seroconversion rate of the COVID-19 neutralizing antibodies for all 1,440 participants, according to a report published on June 25 on Vaccine, an open access journal published monthly online by Molecular Diversity Preservation International, 

No serious adverse events were reported during the study, showing that the vaccine is acceptably safe. In the future, further studies with larger sample sizes and longer research duration will be necessary, read the report.

In this study, researchers conducted an observational study on the immunogenicity and safety of inactivated COVID-19 vaccines on a sample comprising seniors aged 60 and above who presented conditions such as hypertension and diabetes.  The participants were divided into four groups: 330 were assigned to the hypertension group, 330 to the diabetes group, 300 to the hypertensive combined with diabetes group (combined disease group), and 480 to the healthy population group.

Two doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, inactivated, were administered at a 21-day interval and blood samples were collected before vaccination and 28 days after the second dose to evaluate the immunogenicity. The adverse events and changes in blood pressure and blood glucose levels after vaccination were recorded. 

The seroconversion rate of the COVID-19 neutralizing antibodies was 100 percent for all participants. The post-inoculation geometric mean titer (GMT) in the four groups of the hypertension, diabetes, combined disease, and healthy populations were 73.41, 69.93, 73.84, and 74.86, respectively, according to the study. 

The seroconversion rates and post-vaccination GMT in the hypertension, diabetes and combined disease groups were non-inferior to the healthy population group, read the report.

The rates of vaccine-related adverse reactions were 11.93 percent, 14.29 percent, 12.50 percent, and 9.38 percent, respectively. No apparent abnormal fluctuations in blood pressure and blood glucose values were observed after vaccination in participants with hypertension or (/and) diabetes, according to the report.

Since April 17, 2022, the inactivated vaccine has been included in the World Health Organization list of COVID-19 vaccines for emergency use and more than 1.2 billion doses have been administered domestically, according to the report.

In total, China had administered nearly 3.4 billion shots of COVID-19 vaccines, covering about 1.3 billion people as of June 23. Among them, about 232 million are people aged 60 and above, the Chinese National Health Commission announced, saying that they would continue to help local governments promote vaccination among the elderly.     

Global Times