[轉載]蒙古正面臨疫情大爆發，過半人口注射國藥疫苗

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/09/world/mongolia-covid-sinopharm-vaccine.html

(中文翻譯採用google，可能存在字詞轉換錯誤，我沒檢查，請以原文為準)

經過 亞歷山德拉史蒂文森
2021 年 6 月 9 日，美國東部時間上午 5:26
蒙古的冠狀病毒病例激增，該國一半以上的人口接種了疫苗，這促使人們重新關注由中國國藥集團開發的主要疫苗的有效性。

蒙古週三報告了 1,312 例新的冠狀病毒病例，該國的總感染人數接近 70,000，幾乎都是自 1 月以來的記錄。根據《紐約時報》的數據庫，過去兩週每天新增感染人數增加了 70% 以上。

這個內陸國家已成為發展中國家全球疫苗爭奪戰中的一個異類，由於其位於俄羅斯和中國這兩個具有全球野心的疫苗製造巨頭之間的戰略位置，為其符合條件的人口提供了足夠的疫苗。蒙古已經簽署了 430 萬劑國藥集團疫苗和 100 萬劑俄羅斯人造衛星 V 疫苗的協議，儘管迄今為止只有 60,000 劑人造衛星到貨。

中國疫苗，例如國藥控股和另一家公司華興生產的疫苗，使用滅活的冠狀病毒來觸發體內的免疫反應。研究表明，它們不如輝瑞製藥和 Moderna 製藥公司開發的疫苗有效，後者使用更新的 mRNA 技術。

由於後期試驗數據缺乏透明度，國藥控股的疫苗最初受到審查。在嚴重依賴國藥集團為其人口接種的島國塞舌爾也出現病例激增後，疫苗面臨更多問題，儘管大多數人並沒有患上重病。

香港大學公共衛生學院的流行病學家和生物統計學家 Ben Cowling 說：“像科興和國藥這樣的滅活疫苗對感染沒有那麼有效，但對嚴重疾病非常有效。”

“雖然蒙古的感染和病例似乎激增，但我的預期是不會有大量住院治療，”他補充道。

並且一些病毒變體可能傳播得足夠快，即使在大部分人口都接種了有效疫苗的國家也可能引起關注：英國正在應對與Delta 變體相關的病例增加，儘管其一半以上的成年人口已完全接種疫苗，主要是來自阿斯利康和輝瑞的鏡頭。

儘管如此，感染浪潮在蒙古引起了人們的疑問，即為什麼政府依賴國藥集團的疫苗而不是被證明更有效的疫苗。週三，蒙古人前往投票站投票選舉總統，這是自修改憲法以將總統任期限制為六年以來的首次選舉。首相是政府首腦，擁有行政權力。

一年前，蒙古是世界上少數幾個沒有本地冠狀病毒病例的國家之一，但 11 月的爆發改變了這一點。一場政治危機接踵而至，對疫情處理不當的抗議導致總理於 1 月辭職。

新總理奧雲-額爾德尼·盧夫桑納姆雷 (Oyun-Erdene Luvsannamsrai) 承諾將重振疲軟的經濟，並結束損害企業的社會疏遠限制。新一波案件可能會威脅到這一承諾。

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By Alexandra Stevenson
June 9, 2021, 5:26 a.m. ET
Coronavirus cases are surging in Mongolia, where more than half the population is fully vaccinated, prompting a new focus on the effectiveness of its main vaccine, developed by China’s Sinopharm.

Mongolia reported 1,312 new cases of the coronavirus on Wednesday as the country’s total infections neared 70,000, almost all recorded since January. New daily infections have risen more than 70 percent in the past two weeks, according to a New York Times database.

The landlocked nation has emerged as an outlier in the global scramble for vaccines among developing nations, securing enough doses for its eligible population thanks to its strategic location between Russia and China — two vaccine manufacturing giants with global ambitions. Mongolia has signed deals for 4.3 million doses of the Sinopharm vaccine and one million doses of Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine, although only 60,000 Sputnik doses have arrived so far.

Chinese vaccines, such as the ones made by Sinopharm and another company, Sinovac, use inactivated coronaviruses to trigger an immune response in the body. They have been shown in studies to be less effective than the vaccines developed by the pharmaceutical companies Pfizer and Moderna, which use newer mRNA technology.

Sinopharm’s vaccine initially came under scrutiny because of a lack of transparency in its late-stage trial data. The vaccine faced more questions after the island nation of the Seychelles, which relied heavily on Sinopharm to inoculate its population, also saw a spike in cases, although most people did not become seriously ill.

“Inactivated vaccines like Sinovac and Sinopharm are not as effective against infection but very effective against severe disease,” said Ben Cowling, an epidemiologist and biostatistician at the University of Hong Kong School of Public Health.


“Although Mongolia seems to be having a spike in infections and cases, my expectation is that there won’t be large number of hospitalizations,” he added.

And some virus variants may spread fast enough to cause concern even in countries where much of the population has vaccinations effective against them: Britain is dealing with a rise in cases linked to the Delta variant, despite having more than half of its adult population fully vaccinated, largely with shots from AstraZeneca and Pfizer.


Still, the wave of infections has raised questions in Mongolia over why the government relied on the Sinopharm shots instead of a vaccine proven to be more effective. It came as Mongolians headed to the polls on Wednesday to vote for president, the first election since the constitution was amended to limit the president to one six-year term. The prime minister is the head of government and holds executive power.

A year ago, Mongolia was among the few countries in the world that boasted no local coronavirus cases, but an outbreak in November changed that. A political crisis ensued and protests over perceived mishandling of the outbreak led the prime minister to resign in January.

The new prime minister, Oyun-Erdene Luvsannamsrai, has promised to revive a flagging economy and end social distancing restrictions that have hurt businesses. A fresh wave of cases could threaten this pledge.