Staff Reporter
The trial of a coronavirus vaccine from China’s CanSino Biologics has been successfully completed at Lahore’s University of Health Sciences. No severe reactions have been reported.
Only 5% of those vaccinated experienced a mild fever after being administered the shots, according to UHS Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Javed Akram.
Clinical trials of the same vaccine recorded no severe adverse effects as well, CanSino’s Chief Scientific Officer Zhu Tao said in September 2020.
Mild reactions included fever, fatigue, and soreness at the injection site.
In Lahore’s trial, 60% of those listed were men and the remaining 40% women. All volunteers were over 18 years of age.
Professor Akram said that 19% of the participants had underlying conditions such as heart disease and diabetes.
Most of those inoculated developed antibodies to coronavirus, with some volunteers reported to have up to 400% antibodies, he added.
Pakistan started CanSino trials in mid-September at the following locations: Aga Khan University Hospital (Karachi); Indus Hospital (Karachi); Shaukat Khanum Memorial Hospital (Lahore); University of Health Sciences (Lahore); Shifa International Hospital (Islamabad); Results from other trial locations haven’t been released yet.
On Friday, Bloomberg quoted Hasan Abbas Zaheer, a technical adviser at AJM Pharma Pvt Ltd, as saying that CanSino Biologics has offered 20 million vaccine doses to Pakistan.
