[轉載]他们依赖中国的疫苗。现在他们正在与疾病爆发作斗争。
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/22/business/economy/china-vaccines-covid-outbreak.html
(中文翻譯使用DeepL，可能存在字詞轉換錯誤，請以原文為準)
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90多个国家正在使用来自中国的Covid针剂。专家们说，最近这些地方的感染应该成为全球抗击该疾病努力中的一个警示。
隋立伟报道
2021年6月22日
美东时间下午1:12更新
蒙古承诺其人民将度过一个 "没有科维德的夏天"。巴林说将会有一个 "恢复正常的生活"。小岛国塞舌尔旨在启动其经济。
这三个国家都相信，至少部分相信容易获得的中国制造的疫苗，这将使它们能够在世界大部分地区没有疫苗的时候推出雄心勃勃的接种计划。
但是，这三个国家现在并没有从冠状病毒中解脱出来，而是在与激增的感染率作斗争。
中国去年启动了其疫苗外交活动，承诺提供一种安全有效的疫苗，以预防严重的柯维德-19病例。当时不太确定的是，这种疫苗和其他疫苗在遏制传播方面会有多大成效。
现在，来自几个国家的例子表明，中国的疫苗在防止病毒，特别是新变种的传播方面可能不是很有效。这些国家的经验暴露了大流行后的世界所面临的一个残酷现实。恢复的程度可能取决于政府为其人民提供何种疫苗。
在塞舌尔、智利、巴林和蒙古，50%至68%的人口已经完全接种疫苗，超过了美国，根据数据跟踪项目 "我们的数据世界 "的数据。根据《纽约时报》的数据，截至上周，这四个国家都跻身于科维德病毒爆发最严重的前10个国家。而且这四个国家都主要使用两家中国疫苗制造商--国药集团和国华生物技术公司--生产的疫苗。
"香港大学的病毒学家金东燕说："如果疫苗足够好，我们不应该看到这种模式。"中国人有责任对此进行补救。"
科学家们并不确切地知道为什么一些接种率相对较高的国家正在遭受新的暴发。变种、社会控制过快放松以及仅在两针疗法的第一针之后的粗心行为都是可能性。但是突破性的感染可能会产生持久的后果。
在美国，大约45%的人口已经完全接种了疫苗，主要是使用辉瑞生物技术公司和Moderna公司生产的剂量。六个月来，病例已经下降了94%。
以色列提供了辉瑞公司的疫苗，其疫苗接种率居世界第二，仅次于塞舌尔。在以色列，每百万人中新的每日确诊Covid-19病例的数量现在约为4.95。
在主要依靠国药集团的塞舌尔，这一数字超过了每百万人716例。
诸如此类的差异可能会造成这样一个世界，在这个大流行病中出现三种类型的国家--利用其资源确保辉瑞-生物技术公司和Moderna注射的富裕国家，离大多数公民的免疫接种还很远的较贫穷国家，以及那些完全接种但只有部分保护的国家。
中国以及90多个接受了中国疫苗的国家，可能最终会成为第三类国家，在未来数月或数年内与滚动封锁、测试和对日常生活的限制做斗争。经济可能继续受到阻碍。而且，随着越来越多的公民质疑中国剂量的有效性，说服未接种疫苗的人排队打针也可能变得更加困难。
Otgonjargal Baatar在接受国药集团的第二剂疫苗后一个月就病倒了，对Covid-19的检测呈阳性。这位31岁的矿工在蒙古国首都乌兰巴托的一家医院住了9天。Otgonjargal先生说，他现在正在质疑这种针剂的作用。"人们相信，如果我们接种了疫苗，夏天就不会有科维德了，"他说。"现在事实证明，这不是真的。"
北京将其疫苗外交视为一个机会，使其在这场大流行病中成为一个更具影响力的全球大国。中国的最高领导人习近平承诺提供一种中国式的疫苗，可以很容易地储存和运输给世界各地的数百万人。他称这是一项 "全球公益"。
蒙古是一个受益者，抓住了获得数百万支国药集团疫苗的机会。这个小国迅速推出了一项接种计划，并放松了限制。它现在已经为其52%的人口接种了疫苗。但是在周日，它记录了2400名新的感染者，比一个月前翻了两番。
中国外交部在一份声明中说，它认为最近的疫情与中国的疫苗之间没有联系。它援引世界卫生组织的话说，某些国家的疫苗接种率没有达到足够的水平来防止未来的爆发，各国需要继续保持控制。
"相关报告和数据还显示，许多使用中国生产的疫苗的国家都表示，这些疫苗是安全可靠的，并在其防疫工作中发挥了良好的作用，"该部说。中国还强调其疫苗针对的是严重疾病而不是传播。
没有哪种疫苗能完全防止传播，人们在接种后仍然可能患病，但是中国疫苗的相对低效率被认为是最近爆发的一个可能原因。
辉瑞-生物技术公司和Moderna公司的疫苗有效率超过90%。其他各种疫苗--包括阿斯利康和强生--的效力率约为70%。与北京生物制品研究所合作开发的国药集团疫苗的有效率为78.1%；国药集团疫苗的有效率为51%。
中国公司没有公布很多临床数据，以显示其疫苗在预防传播方面的效果。周一，中国疾病预防控制中心的流行病学家邵一鸣说，中国需要为80%至85%的人口全面接种疫苗，以实现群体免疫，这修改了之前官方估计的70%。
关于突破性感染的数据也没有提供，尽管智利的一项国药集团研究显示，在预防接种者的感染方面，该疫苗的效果不如辉瑞-生物技术公司和Moderna公司。
当联系到国药集团的一位代表要求发表评论时，他挂断了电话。华药集团没有对评论请求作出回应。
范德比尔特大学国家传染病基金会的医学主任威廉-沙夫纳（William Schaffner）说，中国疫苗的有效率可能低到足以 "维持一些传播，以及在高度接种的人群中产生大量的疾病，即使它使人们基本上不在医院里。"
尽管病例激增，塞舌尔和蒙古的官员都为国药集团辩护，说它能有效预防该疾病的严重病例。
蒙古国卫生部紧急情况科学咨询小组首席研究员巴特巴亚尔-奥奇尔巴特说，蒙古国选择中国制造的疫苗是正确的决定，部分原因是它有助于保持该国的低死亡率。卫生部表示，来自蒙古的数据显示，国药集团的疫苗实际上比阿斯利康和俄罗斯疫苗斯普特尼克开发的剂量更具保护性。
巴特巴亚尔先生说，蒙古激增的原因是该国重新开放的速度太快，许多人认为他们只打了一剂就得到了保护。"他说："我认为你可以说蒙古人庆祝得太早了。"我的建议是庆祝活动应该在全面接种疫苗后开始，所以这是一个教训。有太多的信心了。"
一些卫生官员和科学家则不那么自信。
澳大利亚弗林德斯大学医学和公共卫生学院的教授尼古拉-彼得罗夫斯基（Nikolai Petrovsky）说，在所有的证据下，有理由认为国药集团的疫苗对遏制传播的作用微乎其微。他说，中国接种的一个主要风险是，接种疫苗的人可能很少或没有症状，但仍然将病毒传播给其他人。
"我认为世界各地的大多数决策者都没有意识到这一复杂性"。
在印度尼西亚，一个新的变体正在蔓延，根据印度尼西亚医学协会的风险缓解小组的说法，最近有350多名医生和卫生保健人员患上了Covid-19，尽管他们已经完全接种了Sinovac疫苗。在全国范围内，2月至6月7日期间有61名医生死亡。该协会说，其中10人曾接种中国制造的疫苗。
这些数字足以让新加坡的医疗服务主管Kenneth Mak质疑Sinovac的使用。"这不是一个与辉瑞公司有关的问题，"麦先生在周五的新闻发布会上说。"这实际上是一个与Sinovac疫苗有关的问题。"
巴林和阿拉伯联合酋长国是最早批准国药集团疫苗的两个国家，甚至在后期临床试验数据公布之前。从那时起，这两个国家都有大量关于接种者患病的报告。巴林政府的媒体办公室在一份声明中说，巴林王国的疫苗推广工作 "到目前为止是高效和成功的"。
尽管如此，上个月，巴林和阿拉伯联合酋长国的官员宣布，他们将提供第三次强化注射。选择。辉瑞公司或更多的国药集团。
Khaliun Bayartsogt, Andrea Kannapell, Ben Hubbard, Asmaa al-Omar和Muktita Suhartono有报道。Elsie Chen和Claire Fu有研究贡献。
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More than 90 countries are using Covid shots from China. Experts say recent infections in those places should serve as a cautionary tale in the global effort to fight the disease.
By Sui-Lee Wee
June 22, 2021
Updated 1:12 p.m. ET
Mongolia promised its people a “Covid-free summer.” Bahrain said there would be a “return to normal life.” The tiny island nation of the Seychelles aimed to jump start its economy.
All three put their faith, at least in part, in easily accessible Chinese-made vaccines, which would allow them to roll out ambitious inoculation programs at a time when much of the world was going without.
But instead of freedom from the coronavirus, all three countries are now battling a surge in infections.
China kicked off its vaccine diplomacy campaign last year by pledging to provide a shot that would be safe and effective at preventing severe cases of Covid-19. Less certain at the time was how successful it and other vaccines would be at curbing transmission.
Now, examples from several countries suggest that the Chinese vaccines may not be very effective at preventing the spread of the virus, particularly the new variants. The experiences of those countries lay bare a harsh reality facing a post-pandemic world: The degree of recovery may depend on which vaccines governments give to their people.
In the Seychelles, Chile, Bahrain and Mongolia, 50 to 68 percent of the populations have been fully inoculated, outpacing the United States, according to Our World In Data, a data tracking project. All four ranked among the top 10 countries with the worst Covid outbreaks as recently as last week, according to data from The New York Times. And all four are mostly using shots made by two Chinese vaccine makers, Sinopharm and Sinovac Biotech.
“If the vaccines are sufficiently good, we should not see this pattern,” said Jin Dongyan, a virologist at the University of Hong Kong. “The Chinese have a responsibility to remedy this.”
Scientists don’t know for certain why some countries with relatively high inoculation rates are suffering new outbreaks. Variants, social controls that are eased too quickly and careless behavior after only the first of a two-shot regimen are possibilities. But the breakthrough infections could have lasting consequences.
In the United States, about 45 percent of the population is fully vaccinated, mostly with doses made by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna. Cases have dropped 94 percent over six months.
Israel provided shots from Pfizer and has the second-highest vaccination rate in the world, after the Seychelles. The number of new daily confirmed Covid-19 cases per million in Israel is now around 4.95.
In the Seychelles, which relied mostly on Sinopharm, that number is more than 716 cases per million.
Disparities such as these could create a world in which three types of countries emerge from the pandemic — the wealthy nations that used their resources to secure Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna shots, the poorer countries that are far away from immunizing a majority of citizens, and then those that are fully inoculated but only partially protected.
China, as well as the more than 90 nations that have received the Chinese shots, may end up in the third group, contending with rolling lockdowns, testing and limits on day-to-day life for months or years to come. Economies could remain held back. And as more citizens question the efficacy of Chinese doses, convincing unvaccinated people to line up for shots may also become more difficult.
One month after receiving his second dose of Sinopharm, Otgonjargal Baatar fell ill and tested positive for Covid-19. The 31-year-old miner spent nine days in a hospital in Ulaanbaatar, the capital of Mongolia. Mr. Otgonjargal said he is now questioning the usefulness of the shot. “People were convinced that if we were vaccinated, the summer will be free of Covid,” he said. “Now it turns out that it’s not true.”
Beijing saw its vaccine diplomacy as an opportunity to emerge from the pandemic as a more influential global power. China’s top leader, Xi Jinping, pledged to deliver a Chinese shot that could be easily stored and transported to millions of people around the world. He called it a “global public good.”
Mongolia was a beneficiary, jumping at the chance to score millions of Sinopharm shots. The small country quickly rolled out an inoculation program and eased restrictions. It has now vaccinated 52 percent of its population. But on Sunday, it recorded 2,400 new infections, a quadrupling from a month before.
In a statement, China’s Foreign Ministry said it did not see a link between the recent outbreaks and its vaccines. It cited the World Health Organization as saying that vaccination rates in certain countries had not reached sufficient levels to prevent future outbreaks, and that countries needed to continue to maintain controls.
“Relevant reports and data also show that many countries that use Chinese-made vaccines have expressed that they are safe and reliable, and have played a good role in their epidemic prevention efforts,” the ministry said. China has also emphasized its vaccines target severe disease rather than transmission.
No vaccine fully prevents transmission and people can still fall ill after getting inoculated, but the relatively low efficacy rates of Chinese shots have been identified as a possible cause of the recent outbreaks.
Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna have efficacy rates of more than 90 percent. A variety of other vaccines — including AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson — have efficacy rates of around 70 percent. The Sinopharm vaccine developed with the Beijing Institute of Biological Products has an efficacy rate of 78.1 percent; the Sinovac vaccine has an efficacy rate of 51 percent.
The Chinese companies have not released much clinical data to show how their vaccines work at preventing transmission. On Monday, Shao Yiming, an epidemiologist with the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said that China needed to fully vaccinate 80 to 85 percent of its population to achieve herd immunity, revising a previous official estimate of 70 percent.
Data on breakthrough infections has not been made available either, though a Sinovac study out of Chile showed that the vaccine was less effective than Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna at preventing infection among vaccinated individuals.
A representative from Sinopharm hung up the phone when reached for comment. Sinovac did not respond to a request for comment.
William Schaffner, medical director of the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases at Vanderbilt University, said the efficacy rates of Chinese shots could be low enough “to sustain some transmission, as well as create illness of a substantial amount in the highly vaccinated population, even though it keeps people largely out of the hospital.”
Despite the spike in cases, officials in both the Seychelles and Mongolia have defended Sinopharm, saying it is effective in preventing severe cases of the disease.
Batbayar Ochirbat, head researcher of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies at Mongolia’s Ministry of Health, said that Mongolia made the right decision to go with the Chinese-made shot, in part because it has helped keep the mortality rate low in the country. Data from Mongolia showed that the Sinopharm vaccine was actually more protective than the doses developed by AstraZeneca and Sputnik, a Russian vaccine, according to the health ministry.
The reason for the surge in Mongolia, Mr. Batbayar said, is that the country reopened too quickly, and many people believed they were protected after only one dose. “I think you could say Mongolians celebrated too early,” he said. “My advice is the celebrations should start after the full vaccinations, so this is the lesson learned. There was too much confidence.”
Some health officials and scientists are less confident.
Nikolai Petrovsky, a professor at the College of Medicine and Public Health at Flinders University in Australia, said that with all of the evidence, it would be reasonable to assume the Sinopharm vaccine has minimal effect on curbing transmission. A major risk with the Chinese inoculation is that vaccinated people may have few or no symptoms and still spread the virus to others, he said.
“I think that this complexity has been lost on most decision makers around the world.”
In Indonesian, where a new variant is spreading, more than 350 doctors and health care workers recently came down with Covid-19 despite being fully vaccinated with Sinovac, according to the risk mitigation team of the Indonesian Medical Association. Across the country, 61 doctors died between February and June 7. Ten of them had taken the Chinese-made vaccine, the association said.
The numbers were enough to make Kenneth Mak, Singapore’s director of medical services, question the use of Sinovac. “It’s not a problem associated with Pfizer,” said Mr. Mak at a news conference on Friday. “This is actually a problem associated with the Sinovac vaccine.”
Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates were the first two countries to approve the Sinopharm shot, even before late-stage clinical trial data was released. Since then, there have been extensive reports of vaccinated people falling ill in both countries. In a statement, the Bahraini government’s media office said the kingdom’s vaccine roll out had been “efficient and successful to date.”
Still, last month officials from Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates announced they would offer a third booster shot. The choices: Pfizer or more Sinopharm.
Khaliun Bayartsogt, Andrea Kannapell, Ben Hubbard, Asmaa al-Omar and Muktita Suhartono contributed reporting. Elsie Chen and Claire Fu contributed research.
(中文翻譯使用DeepL，可能存在字詞轉換錯誤，請以原文為準)
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90多个国家正在使用来自中国的Covid针剂。专家们说，最近这些地方的感染应该成为全球抗击该疾病努力中的一个警示。
隋立伟报道
2021年6月22日
美东时间下午1:12更新
蒙古承诺其人民将度过一个 "没有科维德的夏天"。巴林说将会有一个 "恢复正常的生活"。小岛国塞舌尔旨在启动其经济。
这三个国家都相信，至少部分相信容易获得的中国制造的疫苗，这将使它们能够在世界大部分地区没有疫苗的时候推出雄心勃勃的接种计划。
但是，这三个国家现在并没有从冠状病毒中解脱出来，而是在与激增的感染率作斗争。
中国去年启动了其疫苗外交活动，承诺提供一种安全有效的疫苗，以预防严重的柯维德-19病例。当时不太确定的是，这种疫苗和其他疫苗在遏制传播方面会有多大成效。
现在，来自几个国家的例子表明，中国的疫苗在防止病毒，特别是新变种的传播方面可能不是很有效。这些国家的经验暴露了大流行后的世界所面临的一个残酷现实。恢复的程度可能取决于政府为其人民提供何种疫苗。
在塞舌尔、智利、巴林和蒙古，50%至68%的人口已经完全接种疫苗，超过了美国，根据数据跟踪项目 "我们的数据世界 "的数据。根据《纽约时报》的数据，截至上周，这四个国家都跻身于科维德病毒爆发最严重的前10个国家。而且这四个国家都主要使用两家中国疫苗制造商--国药集团和国华生物技术公司--生产的疫苗。
"香港大学的病毒学家金东燕说："如果疫苗足够好，我们不应该看到这种模式。"中国人有责任对此进行补救。"
科学家们并不确切地知道为什么一些接种率相对较高的国家正在遭受新的暴发。变种、社会控制过快放松以及仅在两针疗法的第一针之后的粗心行为都是可能性。但是突破性的感染可能会产生持久的后果。
在美国，大约45%的人口已经完全接种了疫苗，主要是使用辉瑞生物技术公司和Moderna公司生产的剂量。六个月来，病例已经下降了94%。
以色列提供了辉瑞公司的疫苗，其疫苗接种率居世界第二，仅次于塞舌尔。在以色列，每百万人中新的每日确诊Covid-19病例的数量现在约为4.95。
在主要依靠国药集团的塞舌尔，这一数字超过了每百万人716例。
诸如此类的差异可能会造成这样一个世界，在这个大流行病中出现三种类型的国家--利用其资源确保辉瑞-生物技术公司和Moderna注射的富裕国家，离大多数公民的免疫接种还很远的较贫穷国家，以及那些完全接种但只有部分保护的国家。
中国以及90多个接受了中国疫苗的国家，可能最终会成为第三类国家，在未来数月或数年内与滚动封锁、测试和对日常生活的限制做斗争。经济可能继续受到阻碍。而且，随着越来越多的公民质疑中国剂量的有效性，说服未接种疫苗的人排队打针也可能变得更加困难。
Otgonjargal Baatar在接受国药集团的第二剂疫苗后一个月就病倒了，对Covid-19的检测呈阳性。这位31岁的矿工在蒙古国首都乌兰巴托的一家医院住了9天。Otgonjargal先生说，他现在正在质疑这种针剂的作用。"人们相信，如果我们接种了疫苗，夏天就不会有科维德了，"他说。"现在事实证明，这不是真的。"
北京将其疫苗外交视为一个机会，使其在这场大流行病中成为一个更具影响力的全球大国。中国的最高领导人习近平承诺提供一种中国式的疫苗，可以很容易地储存和运输给世界各地的数百万人。他称这是一项 "全球公益"。
蒙古是一个受益者，抓住了获得数百万支国药集团疫苗的机会。这个小国迅速推出了一项接种计划，并放松了限制。它现在已经为其52%的人口接种了疫苗。但是在周日，它记录了2400名新的感染者，比一个月前翻了两番。
中国外交部在一份声明中说，它认为最近的疫情与中国的疫苗之间没有联系。它援引世界卫生组织的话说，某些国家的疫苗接种率没有达到足够的水平来防止未来的爆发，各国需要继续保持控制。
"相关报告和数据还显示，许多使用中国生产的疫苗的国家都表示，这些疫苗是安全可靠的，并在其防疫工作中发挥了良好的作用，"该部说。中国还强调其疫苗针对的是严重疾病而不是传播。
没有哪种疫苗能完全防止传播，人们在接种后仍然可能患病，但是中国疫苗的相对低效率被认为是最近爆发的一个可能原因。
辉瑞-生物技术公司和Moderna公司的疫苗有效率超过90%。其他各种疫苗--包括阿斯利康和强生--的效力率约为70%。与北京生物制品研究所合作开发的国药集团疫苗的有效率为78.1%；国药集团疫苗的有效率为51%。
中国公司没有公布很多临床数据，以显示其疫苗在预防传播方面的效果。周一，中国疾病预防控制中心的流行病学家邵一鸣说，中国需要为80%至85%的人口全面接种疫苗，以实现群体免疫，这修改了之前官方估计的70%。
关于突破性感染的数据也没有提供，尽管智利的一项国药集团研究显示，在预防接种者的感染方面，该疫苗的效果不如辉瑞-生物技术公司和Moderna公司。
当联系到国药集团的一位代表要求发表评论时，他挂断了电话。华药集团没有对评论请求作出回应。
范德比尔特大学国家传染病基金会的医学主任威廉-沙夫纳（William Schaffner）说，中国疫苗的有效率可能低到足以 "维持一些传播，以及在高度接种的人群中产生大量的疾病，即使它使人们基本上不在医院里。"
尽管病例激增，塞舌尔和蒙古的官员都为国药集团辩护，说它能有效预防该疾病的严重病例。
蒙古国卫生部紧急情况科学咨询小组首席研究员巴特巴亚尔-奥奇尔巴特说，蒙古国选择中国制造的疫苗是正确的决定，部分原因是它有助于保持该国的低死亡率。卫生部表示，来自蒙古的数据显示，国药集团的疫苗实际上比阿斯利康和俄罗斯疫苗斯普特尼克开发的剂量更具保护性。
巴特巴亚尔先生说，蒙古激增的原因是该国重新开放的速度太快，许多人认为他们只打了一剂就得到了保护。"他说："我认为你可以说蒙古人庆祝得太早了。"我的建议是庆祝活动应该在全面接种疫苗后开始，所以这是一个教训。有太多的信心了。"
一些卫生官员和科学家则不那么自信。
澳大利亚弗林德斯大学医学和公共卫生学院的教授尼古拉-彼得罗夫斯基（Nikolai Petrovsky）说，在所有的证据下，有理由认为国药集团的疫苗对遏制传播的作用微乎其微。他说，中国接种的一个主要风险是，接种疫苗的人可能很少或没有症状，但仍然将病毒传播给其他人。
"我认为世界各地的大多数决策者都没有意识到这一复杂性"。
在印度尼西亚，一个新的变体正在蔓延，根据印度尼西亚医学协会的风险缓解小组的说法，最近有350多名医生和卫生保健人员患上了Covid-19，尽管他们已经完全接种了Sinovac疫苗。在全国范围内，2月至6月7日期间有61名医生死亡。该协会说，其中10人曾接种中国制造的疫苗。
这些数字足以让新加坡的医疗服务主管Kenneth Mak质疑Sinovac的使用。"这不是一个与辉瑞公司有关的问题，"麦先生在周五的新闻发布会上说。"这实际上是一个与Sinovac疫苗有关的问题。"
巴林和阿拉伯联合酋长国是最早批准国药集团疫苗的两个国家，甚至在后期临床试验数据公布之前。从那时起，这两个国家都有大量关于接种者患病的报告。巴林政府的媒体办公室在一份声明中说，巴林王国的疫苗推广工作 "到目前为止是高效和成功的"。
尽管如此，上个月，巴林和阿拉伯联合酋长国的官员宣布，他们将提供第三次强化注射。选择。辉瑞公司或更多的国药集团。
Khaliun Bayartsogt, Andrea Kannapell, Ben Hubbard, Asmaa al-Omar和Muktita Suhartono有报道。Elsie Chen和Claire Fu有研究贡献。
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More than 90 countries are using Covid shots from China. Experts say recent infections in those places should serve as a cautionary tale in the global effort to fight the disease.
By Sui-Lee Wee
June 22, 2021
Updated 1:12 p.m. ET
Mongolia promised its people a “Covid-free summer.” Bahrain said there would be a “return to normal life.” The tiny island nation of the Seychelles aimed to jump start its economy.
All three put their faith, at least in part, in easily accessible Chinese-made vaccines, which would allow them to roll out ambitious inoculation programs at a time when much of the world was going without.
But instead of freedom from the coronavirus, all three countries are now battling a surge in infections.
China kicked off its vaccine diplomacy campaign last year by pledging to provide a shot that would be safe and effective at preventing severe cases of Covid-19. Less certain at the time was how successful it and other vaccines would be at curbing transmission.
Now, examples from several countries suggest that the Chinese vaccines may not be very effective at preventing the spread of the virus, particularly the new variants. The experiences of those countries lay bare a harsh reality facing a post-pandemic world: The degree of recovery may depend on which vaccines governments give to their people.
In the Seychelles, Chile, Bahrain and Mongolia, 50 to 68 percent of the populations have been fully inoculated, outpacing the United States, according to Our World In Data, a data tracking project. All four ranked among the top 10 countries with the worst Covid outbreaks as recently as last week, according to data from The New York Times. And all four are mostly using shots made by two Chinese vaccine makers, Sinopharm and Sinovac Biotech.
“If the vaccines are sufficiently good, we should not see this pattern,” said Jin Dongyan, a virologist at the University of Hong Kong. “The Chinese have a responsibility to remedy this.”
Scientists don’t know for certain why some countries with relatively high inoculation rates are suffering new outbreaks. Variants, social controls that are eased too quickly and careless behavior after only the first of a two-shot regimen are possibilities. But the breakthrough infections could have lasting consequences.
In the United States, about 45 percent of the population is fully vaccinated, mostly with doses made by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna. Cases have dropped 94 percent over six months.
Israel provided shots from Pfizer and has the second-highest vaccination rate in the world, after the Seychelles. The number of new daily confirmed Covid-19 cases per million in Israel is now around 4.95.
In the Seychelles, which relied mostly on Sinopharm, that number is more than 716 cases per million.
Disparities such as these could create a world in which three types of countries emerge from the pandemic — the wealthy nations that used their resources to secure Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna shots, the poorer countries that are far away from immunizing a majority of citizens, and then those that are fully inoculated but only partially protected.
China, as well as the more than 90 nations that have received the Chinese shots, may end up in the third group, contending with rolling lockdowns, testing and limits on day-to-day life for months or years to come. Economies could remain held back. And as more citizens question the efficacy of Chinese doses, convincing unvaccinated people to line up for shots may also become more difficult.
One month after receiving his second dose of Sinopharm, Otgonjargal Baatar fell ill and tested positive for Covid-19. The 31-year-old miner spent nine days in a hospital in Ulaanbaatar, the capital of Mongolia. Mr. Otgonjargal said he is now questioning the usefulness of the shot. “People were convinced that if we were vaccinated, the summer will be free of Covid,” he said. “Now it turns out that it’s not true.”
Beijing saw its vaccine diplomacy as an opportunity to emerge from the pandemic as a more influential global power. China’s top leader, Xi Jinping, pledged to deliver a Chinese shot that could be easily stored and transported to millions of people around the world. He called it a “global public good.”
Mongolia was a beneficiary, jumping at the chance to score millions of Sinopharm shots. The small country quickly rolled out an inoculation program and eased restrictions. It has now vaccinated 52 percent of its population. But on Sunday, it recorded 2,400 new infections, a quadrupling from a month before.
In a statement, China’s Foreign Ministry said it did not see a link between the recent outbreaks and its vaccines. It cited the World Health Organization as saying that vaccination rates in certain countries had not reached sufficient levels to prevent future outbreaks, and that countries needed to continue to maintain controls.
“Relevant reports and data also show that many countries that use Chinese-made vaccines have expressed that they are safe and reliable, and have played a good role in their epidemic prevention efforts,” the ministry said. China has also emphasized its vaccines target severe disease rather than transmission.
No vaccine fully prevents transmission and people can still fall ill after getting inoculated, but the relatively low efficacy rates of Chinese shots have been identified as a possible cause of the recent outbreaks.
Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna have efficacy rates of more than 90 percent. A variety of other vaccines — including AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson — have efficacy rates of around 70 percent. The Sinopharm vaccine developed with the Beijing Institute of Biological Products has an efficacy rate of 78.1 percent; the Sinovac vaccine has an efficacy rate of 51 percent.
The Chinese companies have not released much clinical data to show how their vaccines work at preventing transmission. On Monday, Shao Yiming, an epidemiologist with the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said that China needed to fully vaccinate 80 to 85 percent of its population to achieve herd immunity, revising a previous official estimate of 70 percent.
Data on breakthrough infections has not been made available either, though a Sinovac study out of Chile showed that the vaccine was less effective than Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna at preventing infection among vaccinated individuals.
A representative from Sinopharm hung up the phone when reached for comment. Sinovac did not respond to a request for comment.
William Schaffner, medical director of the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases at Vanderbilt University, said the efficacy rates of Chinese shots could be low enough “to sustain some transmission, as well as create illness of a substantial amount in the highly vaccinated population, even though it keeps people largely out of the hospital.”
Despite the spike in cases, officials in both the Seychelles and Mongolia have defended Sinopharm, saying it is effective in preventing severe cases of the disease.
Batbayar Ochirbat, head researcher of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies at Mongolia’s Ministry of Health, said that Mongolia made the right decision to go with the Chinese-made shot, in part because it has helped keep the mortality rate low in the country. Data from Mongolia showed that the Sinopharm vaccine was actually more protective than the doses developed by AstraZeneca and Sputnik, a Russian vaccine, according to the health ministry.
The reason for the surge in Mongolia, Mr. Batbayar said, is that the country reopened too quickly, and many people believed they were protected after only one dose. “I think you could say Mongolians celebrated too early,” he said. “My advice is the celebrations should start after the full vaccinations, so this is the lesson learned. There was too much confidence.”
Some health officials and scientists are less confident.
Nikolai Petrovsky, a professor at the College of Medicine and Public Health at Flinders University in Australia, said that with all of the evidence, it would be reasonable to assume the Sinopharm vaccine has minimal effect on curbing transmission. A major risk with the Chinese inoculation is that vaccinated people may have few or no symptoms and still spread the virus to others, he said.
“I think that this complexity has been lost on most decision makers around the world.”
In Indonesian, where a new variant is spreading, more than 350 doctors and health care workers recently came down with Covid-19 despite being fully vaccinated with Sinovac, according to the risk mitigation team of the Indonesian Medical Association. Across the country, 61 doctors died between February and June 7. Ten of them had taken the Chinese-made vaccine, the association said.
The numbers were enough to make Kenneth Mak, Singapore’s director of medical services, question the use of Sinovac. “It’s not a problem associated with Pfizer,” said Mr. Mak at a news conference on Friday. “This is actually a problem associated with the Sinovac vaccine.”
Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates were the first two countries to approve the Sinopharm shot, even before late-stage clinical trial data was released. Since then, there have been extensive reports of vaccinated people falling ill in both countries. In a statement, the Bahraini government’s media office said the kingdom’s vaccine roll out had been “efficient and successful to date.”
Still, last month officials from Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates announced they would offer a third booster shot. The choices: Pfizer or more Sinopharm.
Khaliun Bayartsogt, Andrea Kannapell, Ben Hubbard, Asmaa al-Omar and Muktita Suhartono contributed reporting. Elsie Chen and Claire Fu contributed research.
19 个评论
如果是假的我希望是真的。如果是真的我想亲口对他们说：活该。
蒙古(更新至6/21)：仍在搶打國藥疫苗，不過可能會換俄羅斯疫苗，照算明天可能破十萬人確診。
巴林(更新至6/21)：5月底爆發大規模傳染後，已補打第三針BNT。
塞舌尔全國人口不到10萬，目前已有14620人確診，也就是平均每6.8人就有一個covid-19患者，目前已經決定接受美國捐贈的BNT
巴林(更新至6/21)：5月底爆發大規模傳染後，已補打第三針BNT。
塞舌尔全國人口不到10萬，目前已有14620人確診，也就是平均每6.8人就有一個covid-19患者，目前已經決定接受美國捐贈的BNT
机翻太烂了
这件事上面WHO又一次的为虎作伥了
怎么批准的国产疫苗紧急使用？基于假报告？
这件事上面WHO又一次的为虎作伥了
怎么批准的国产疫苗紧急使用？基于假报告？
正常民主國家，民意授權是有期限的，每隔一段時間便要重新授權。
只有不正常国家才會將授權當成永遠有效。
只有不正常国家才會將授權當成永遠有效。
这说明想弯道超车的一般都会阴沟翻车
这些国家应该学会看土共俄爹的脸色行事
毕竟知子莫如父，俄爹认可共的疫苗那才行
这些国家应该学会看土共俄爹的脸色行事
毕竟知子莫如父，俄爹认可共的疫苗那才行
世界卫生组织给新冠疫苗设定了50%有效率的门槛，根据目前国产疫苗的相关数据中国的疫苗能通过世卫组织的要求。
哪種新冠疫苗更強更有效？：https://youtu.be/wXYZqyy-d8s
世卫核准中国科兴疫苗作紧急使用：https://p .dw.com/p/3uJgk
世卫将中国科兴疫苗纳入紧急使用清单的影响：https://www.bbc.com/zhongwen/simp/chinese-news-57328128
世卫组织在紧急使用清单中增加一种COVID-19疫苗，并发布临时政策建议：https://www.who.int/zh/news/item/07-05-2021-who-lists-additional-covid-19-vaccine-for-emergency-use-and-issues-interim-policy-recommendations
中国科兴新冠疫苗获得世卫组织紧急使用许可：https://news.un.org/zh/story/2021/06/1085102
世卫组织批准紧急使用中国国药集团新冠疫苗：https://news.un.org/zh/story/2021/05/1083742
哪種新冠疫苗更強更有效？：https://youtu.be/wXYZqyy-d8s
世卫核准中国科兴疫苗作紧急使用：https://p .dw.com/p/3uJgk
世卫将中国科兴疫苗纳入紧急使用清单的影响：https://www.bbc.com/zhongwen/simp/chinese-news-57328128
世卫组织在紧急使用清单中增加一种COVID-19疫苗，并发布临时政策建议：https://www.who.int/zh/news/item/07-05-2021-who-lists-additional-covid-19-vaccine-for-emergency-use-and-issues-interim-policy-recommendations
中国科兴新冠疫苗获得世卫组织紧急使用许可：https://news.un.org/zh/story/2021/06/1085102
世卫组织批准紧急使用中国国药集团新冠疫苗：https://news.un.org/zh/story/2021/05/1083742
指望捅你一刀的人带你去医院，还给你掏医药费，我只能说“求仁得仁”。
>> 可人民不活该，就像亲中的匈牙利政府，恶心的匈奸！可匈牙利人民是无辜的，布达佩斯不就抗议了么？无...
可能还是因为疫苗供应不足，而全世界大多数人又相信疫苗真的可以使疫情结束。这种情况，你可以说是生产疫苗的问题，也同时是接种者自己观念的问题，因为相信，所以追逐，进而陷入。
>> 那，除非非民选政府的独裁国家。还有啊，中共也喜欢你的逻辑，因为你爷爷奶奶辈，在1949年热烈欢...
这话不对，对政府的选择权需要持续拥有，而不是子孙为爷爷奶奶的选择埋单，此选择非彼选择。
>> 这说明想弯道超车的一般都会阴沟翻车这些国家应该学会看土共俄爹的脸色行事毕竟知子莫如父，俄爹认可...
哈哈，也可以看中共的脸色判断朝鲜，中共也很清楚朝鲜的东西到底好不好。