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Saturday, Feb 22, 2025
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Sinopharm in race for omicron vaccine
The University of Hong Kong is recruiting 1,800 adult volunteers who are double or triple-jabbed to participate in a large-scale clinical trial of a new vaccine targeting the Omicron variant of the Covid-19 virus.
The trial by China National Biotec Group, which produces the Sinopharm vaccine, will take place at the community vaccination center at Sun Yat Sen Memorial Park Sports Centre in Sai Ying Pun.
The 1,800 volunteers will be split equally between those who have received two or three doses of mainland-made Sinovac and those with two or three doses of German-made BioNTech.
They will be further randomly split into three groups, with one receiving the original strain vaccine and the other two receiving Omicron-targeting vaccines produced by two manufacturing plants.
Volunteers will receive the doses at 28-day intervals and need to return to the center for blood sampling and follow-up over a one-year period.
And they can't have contracted Covid, SARS or MERS infections or an allergic reaction to any drug or vaccine as well as suffer from serious chronic diseases.
Research leader Ivan Hung Fan-ngai said more than 500 million people have contracted Covid infections worldwide with over six million lives lost, and Omicron has become the world's dominant Covid strain, causing the latest wave of global outbreaks with the highest number of cases on record.
"The biggest challenge is that Omicron can evade the immunity response and that immunity levels of existing vaccines against Omicron are significantly lowered, reducing protection for humans," said Hung, necessitating a vaccine to prevent the next outbreak.
He hopes to complete recruitment by next month, finish the trial in August and hopefully vaccinate the public within 2022 after data analysis.
The hope is for a next-generation vaccine for uses that include as a booster if it proves safe and able to trigger adequate immune responses, researchers said.
Such a vaccine would bring relaxed curbs, cross-border mobility and ultimately a return to normal life.
All volunteers will be granted a six-month "Provisional Vaccine Pass" recognized by the SAR government.
About 500 people have signed up for the scheme and less than 100 people have received the first dose.
Sinovac has also been developing an Omicron vaccine since November. It has applied for clinical trials and received approval mid-April after the vaccine was proved to be safe and effective in animal tests.
The 1,800 volunteers will be split equally between those who have received two or three doses of mainland-made Sinovac and those with two or three doses of German-made BioNTech.
They will be further randomly split into three groups, with one receiving the original strain vaccine and the other two receiving Omicron-targeting vaccines produced by two manufacturing plants.
Volunteers will receive the doses at 28-day intervals and need to return to the center for blood sampling and follow-up over a one-year period.
And they can't have contracted Covid, SARS or MERS infections or an allergic reaction to any drug or vaccine as well as suffer from serious chronic diseases.
Research leader Ivan Hung Fan-ngai said more than 500 million people have contracted Covid infections worldwide with over six million lives lost, and Omicron has become the world's dominant Covid strain, causing the latest wave of global outbreaks with the highest number of cases on record.
"The biggest challenge is that Omicron can evade the immunity response and that immunity levels of existing vaccines against Omicron are significantly lowered, reducing protection for humans," said Hung, necessitating a vaccine to prevent the next outbreak.
He hopes to complete recruitment by next month, finish the trial in August and hopefully vaccinate the public within 2022 after data analysis.
The hope is for a next-generation vaccine for uses that include as a booster if it proves safe and able to trigger adequate immune responses, researchers said.
Such a vaccine would bring relaxed curbs, cross-border mobility and ultimately a return to normal life.
All volunteers will be granted a six-month "Provisional Vaccine Pass" recognized by the SAR government.
About 500 people have signed up for the scheme and less than 100 people have received the first dose.
Sinovac has also been developing an Omicron vaccine since November. It has applied for clinical trials and received approval mid-April after the vaccine was proved to be safe and effective in animal tests.
