Peru Trials for Sinopharm Vaccine Resume after Volunteer Dies; She Had Received Placebo

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – A Peruvian woman age 54, apparently healthy, who had volunteered to participate in the Chinese giant Sinopharm’s vaccine trials against the novel coronavirus, died of Covid-19, reported Tuesday the Health Authority in charge of the trial in Lima.

“We regret to announce that one of our volunteers died as a result of Covid-19 pneumonia,” said the Peruvian Cayetano Heredia University, in charge of the clinical trials of Sinopharm’s vaccine.

The university added that it had communicated the case to the study’s safety committee and to regulatory authorities for an investigation to take place.

The 54-year-old woman, who was apparently in good health before being administered the two corresponding doses in October, “received all the care prescribed to treat this disease and its complications and was fighting for her life for over a week, but was unable to overcome the effects of the disease,” said the authority in a press release.

Later, however, after confirming that the victim had been administered a placebo, it was stated that “the regular Phase 3 Covid-19 Vaccine Clinical Trial activities will be maintained”.

The Peruvian government announced this month that it had purchased 38 million doses of the potential vaccine from Sinopharm.

One million doses of the Chinese vaccine should arrive in Lima before the end of January or in February to be administered to half a million healthcare workers and security forces, according to interim president Francisco Sagasti.

Sinopharm’s clinical trials had been temporarily suspended on December 12th for a few weeks after a health complication arose in one of the volunteers, a man at the time.

One of the volunteers developed “some neurological symptoms that could relate to a complication called Guillain-Barré,” said Germán Málaga, lead investigator of the vaccine’s clinical trials.

The trial was conducted between September and December, involved 12,000 volunteers aged between 18 and 75.

Peru has recorded 1.1 million confirmed cases of Covid-19 and almost 40,000 deaths since the pandemic erupted in March.

(With information from AFP)

Source: Infobae

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