The Sunday News
Munyaradzi Musiiwa, Sunday News Reports
THE SinoPharm vaccine, which the Ministry of Health and Child Care is administering on frontline workers and will soon be rolled out to all willing citizens do not have peculiar and serious side effects according to the assessment done by Medicines Control Authority of Zimbabwe (MCAZ).
MCAZ projects and public relations officer Mr Shingai Gwatidzo said the side effects expected from the SinoPharm vaccine were not peculiar but were common among all the vaccines that are being administered globally by different countries.
Mr Gwatidzo said MCAZ together with the Ministry of Health and Child Care will be monitoring any adverse events following the immunisation.
“When vaccines are administered to a large number of people some side effects associated with the vaccine are expected. The most common side effect that was noted from the clinical studies conducted was pain at the injection site; and other common side effects included transient fever, headache, itching at injection site and uncommon included skin rashes, vomiting, itching at non-injection side, muscle pain, drowsiness.
“Note that these side effects are not unique to the Sinopharm product. In addition, MCAZ will be working with the Ministry of Health and Child Care monitoring any adverse events following immunisation (AEFI) to ensure that products maintain a favourable benefit-risk balance as they are used on the Zimbabwe population,” he said.
Mr Gwatidzo said MCAZ was thorough in the assessment of the vaccines that are coming into the country ahead of the vaccination exercise.
“The Sinopharm product went through the MCAZ Emergency Use Authorisation Assessment. In view of the global pandemic, MCAZ, like most regulatory authorities, established a system for Emergency Use Authorisation (EUA) of COVID-19 Vaccines. This route allows regulatory agencies to conduct Benefit-Risk assessment of vaccines that have undergone Phase I and II Clinical trials and have started Phase III studies but are already showing favourable safety, efficacy in preventing COVID-19. “MCAZ conducted EUA assessment of the this vaccine that had been identified by Ministry of Health and Child Care and it was deemed to have a favourable benefit-risk balance. From clinical trial data submitted by SinoPharm studies done its efficacy ranged from 78-86 percent,” he said.
