A COMPANY that distributes China-made Sinopharm anti-Covid shots said the bio-medical facility that manufactures Sinopharm vaccine in China could churn out at least 2 billion vaccines per year.
According to Abdul Razaq Siddiq, president of 2 World Traders Inc., the company that will bring in the Sinopharm Covid-19 vaccine to the Philippines, the Sinopharm manufacturer in China can churn out 2 billion vaccines annually through its state-of-the-art facilities.
This, he said, is something that other bigger-name vaccine brands cannot match. âSinopharm vaccines are also the safest and highly efficacious. So far, we havenât heard any serious side effects during or after vaccine events in any of the countries where Sinopharm is being used,â Siddiq claimed.
He added that based on a Food and Drug Administration adverse reaction report, there were more than 60,000 side effects monitored for the six other vaccine brands being used in the country, but none for the 1 million donated Sinopharm vaccines until today, whether serious or non-serious events.
High effectivity
Also, Siddiq said the Sinopharm vaccine has high effectivity even against the highly transmissible Delta variant.
Right now, he said, they are only allowed to sell directly to national governments, or even to local government units via a tripartite agreement.
As for the Philippines, the procurement of Sinopharm vaccines for the Philippines is still under negotiations so there is still no specific timeline when the Sinopharm vaccines will finally reach Philippine soil.
âWe are just awaiting word from the Philippine government when a procurement agreement will be signed, and we are already negotiating with Sinopharmâs manufacturer in China to reserve âmillionsâ of vaccines specifically for the Philippines,â he said.
The companyâs mission is to save lives, according to Siddiq, and right now, they are also conducting clinical trials for other products that will help save lives.
Halal-certified
Siddiq said Sinopharm is also halal-certified, which is good for Muslim Filipinos.
He also belied claims of lack of transparency on the part of Sinovac, adding that other big companies also face criticism. He said volumes of literature and data are already available on the Internet, and which they can also provide to the public when needed.
It can be recalled that President Duterte used Sinopharm Covid inoculation, which was administered last May 3, 2021. He got his second dose on July 12, 2021, or about 10 weeks later, which is way past the recommended interval of at least three weeks.
Sinopharm was given an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) by the Food and Drug Administration last June 8, 2021, and was also given an EUA by the World Health Organization.
The vaccine is made by Beijing Bio-Institute of Biological Products Co. Ltd., a subsidiary of China National Biotec Group.