Fact Check : Top 4 COVID-19 Vaccines Are From China?

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Did the New York Times confirm that the top four COVID-19 vaccines are from China?

Find out what the FACTS really are!

 

Claim : Top 4 COVID-19 Vaccines Are From China

People have been excitedly sharing this amazing news about Chinese vaccines on WhatsApp and Facebook.

It’s a long message, so skip to the next section for the facts…

Covid-19.. Ranking of Vaccines

US accepted the best vaccine is from China.

America’s New York Times reports.

China’s 1-4 best vaccine rankings, while many admired Pfizer ranked sixth.

– The safety rating of vaccines currently injected in Thailand

Sinovac and AZ are 2nd and 5th, while the demanding Pfizer is 6th.

 

Truth : Top 4 COVID-19 Vaccines Are NOT From China

This is just an updated version of the earlier fake news claiming that Chinese vaccines are the world’s safest.

And here are the reasons why it’s just FAKE NEWS…

Fact #1 : It Was Not An Actual NYT Article

The posts promoted a New York Times link, but it was really just an opinion piece by Achal Prabhala and Chee Yoke Ling – an Indian public health activist and a Malaysian public interest lawyer.

It was NOT an actual article by any New York Times writer or correspondent. Neither was it endorsed by the New York Times.

Fact #2 : NYT Did Not Rank COVID-19 Vaccines

The opinion piece did NOT rank the COVID-19 vaccines, much less claim that the top 4 vaccines are from China.

In fact, it pointed out the conflicting trial results for the CoronaVac vaccine from Sinovac, and noted that “China’s and Russia’s self-serving propaganda campaigns touting their respective vaccines only increased wariness“.

Instead of praising Chinese vaccines as the safest in the world, the two writers were merely asking health authorities to “start trusting other countries’ vaccines“, because there is simply not enough vaccines from Western countries to supply the world.

Read more : Did New York Times Rank Chinese Vaccines As World Safest?

Fact Check : Top 4 COVID-19 Vaccines Are From China?

Fact #3 : The New York Times Refuted The Claim

On 10 March 2021, The New York Times published three tweets refuting the false claims.

We are aware of misinformation circulating on WhatsApp, which falsely ranks the safety of worldwide coronavirus vaccines and attributes this list to a report published by The New York Times.

This message is misleading and untrue. The New York Times did not publish this list, our reporting has not suggested that Chinese vaccines are superior to vaccines produced elsewhere, nor have we published claims that China has exported more than 500 million doses.

Our understanding of the effectiveness and safety of vaccines is published in The New York Times Coronavirus Vaccine Tracker. It is evolving, nuanced, and regularly updated to reflect current scientific evidence.

Fact #4 : Chinese Vaccines Have Efficacy Issues

On 24 June 2021, Chinese CDC deputy director Dr. Feng Zijian told the China Central Television that antibodies from two Chinese COVID-19 vaccines are “less effective” against the Delta variant, compared to other strains.

In that interview, he declined to name the two Chinese vaccines, but the Caixin Global report appears to confirm that they are the Sinovac CoronaVac and Sinopharm BBIBP-CorV vaccines.

Sinovac itself appears to be cognisant of this limitation, and have conducting clinical research on a booster dose of their own.

But it appears that the Chinese government is not going to wait, but will instead boost protection against the Delta variant using the Pfizer mRNA vaccine instead.

Read more : China To Offer mRNA Booster Dose For Sinovac + Sinopharm!

Fact #5 : Doses Ordered, Not Delivered

The post claimed that “China has exported more than 500 million doses of vaccines to more than 50 countries around the world, and it is estimated that hundreds of millions of people have been vaccinated.”

The truth is Chinese vaccine manufacturers received ORDERS for about 500 million doses of their vaccines from about 45 countries.

When that post first appeared in February 2021, China was actually a long way from delivering (exporting) those 500 million vaccine doses, and certainly hundreds of millions of people have NOT been vaccinated with Chinese COVID-19 vaccines at that time.

Even China only planned to vaccinate 50 million essential workers by mid-February – less than 4% of its population, even as it exports millions of doses overseas.

Fact #6 : China Purchased 100 Million Doses Of Pfizer Vaccine

Despite the claims of Chinese vaccine superiority and approving FOUR domestically developed and produced vaccines, China also ordered 100 million doses of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine.

As mentioned in Fact #4, the Chinese government is planning to boost protection against the Delta variant using the Pfizer mRNA vaccine, for people vaccinated with their Sinovac or Sinopharm vaccines.

Read more : China To Offer mRNA Booster Dose For Sinovac + Sinopharm!

Fact #7 : Flying For Early Vaccines, Not Chinese Vaccines

While the fake post insinuates that wealthy people in Britain are flying to the UAE for superior Chinese vaccines, the truth is they were offered EARLY ACCESS to COVID-19 vaccines.

Knightsbridge Circle – a private concierge service – had been flying people since January 2021 to the UAE for the Pfizer vaccine, or India for the AstraZeneca vaccine.

In February 2021, they partnered with the UAE to offer the Sinopharm vaccine as a way to “bring tourism into the area”.

This is really about the rich cutting queue and getting early access to COVID-19 vaccines, and not about wealthy UK residents actually believing in the superiority of Chinese vaccines.

Knightsbridge Circle Sinopharm COVID-19

Fact #8 : Vaccine Side Effects Do Not Take 10-20 Years To Appear

It is utter nonsense to claim that vaccines can cause side effects 10-20 years later.

Vaccines are merely self-defence classes for our immune system – teaching it how to identify a microbe, so it can learn to make antibodies against it.

Like a self-defence class, a vaccine doesn’t stick around. That’s why sometimes a booster dose (like revision classes) is required.

Any side effects you may experience is your body’s natural reaction to what it believes is the actual virus – this is how the vaccine trains the body to defend itself.

These side effects occur in the first few days of getting the vaccine dose, and do not lay in wait for 10-20 years before appearing.

 

Should You Trust Vaccines Made In China?

Yes, if approved by the health authority of your country, you should trust vaccines made in China.

The Chinese vaccines may have lower efficacy than the Pfizer or Moderna mRNA vaccine, but they are still effective at preventing hospitalisations and death.

We need to stop obsessing over efficacy rates because most people don’t understand them.

What we really need to understand is that ALL approved COVID-19 vaccines have been proven to prevent severe or fatal COVID-19 disease.

Just take any approved COVID-19 vaccine, and you will be protected against moderate to severe COVID-19 disease that requires medical treatment.

Recommended : Which COVID-19 Vaccine Should YOU Choose?

 

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Dr. Adrian Wong has been writing about tech and science since 1997, even publishing a book with Prentice Hall called Breaking Through The BIOS Barrier (ISBN 978-0131455368) while in medical school.

He continues to devote countless hours every day writing about tech, medicine and science, in his pursuit of facts in a post-truth world.

 

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