好消息！《柳叶刀》：中国疫苗能快速诱发免疫反应
权威医学杂志《柳叶刀-感染病学》周三发布了一篇关于中国疫苗的同行评议论文。论文称，初步试验结果显示，中国科兴生物研发的新冠疫苗“克尔来福”能快速诱导免疫反应，适合在新冠疫情大流行期间紧急使用。
论文评测了该疫苗的一期和二期临床试验结果，研究人员表示，该疫苗能够提供足够的保护。
本月早些时候，美国辉瑞、Moderna以及俄罗斯的疫苗研发都传来了利好消息，根据大型后期试验的中期数据，这些实验性疫苗的有效性超过90％。
目前，中国企业研发的“克尔来福”和其他四种实验性疫苗正在进行后期试验。
The experimental COVID-19 vaccine developed by China's Sinovac Biotech can induce quick antibody responses and is suitable for emergency use, preliminary trial results published in the medical journal The Lancet Infectious Diseases showed on Wednesday.
CoronaVac, Sinavac's vaccine, "was well tolerated and induced humoral responses against SARS-CoV-2, which supported the approval of emergency use of CoronaVac in China and in three phase-3 studies," the findings read.
While the early to mid-stage trials were not designed to assess the efficacy of CoronaVac, researchers said it could provide sufficient protection, based on their experience with other vaccines and data from preclinical studies with macaques.
The study comes hot on the heels of two U.S. drugmakers Pfizer and Moderna as well as Russia that showed their experimental vaccines were over 90 percent effective based on interim data from large, late-stage trials.
CoronaVac and four other experimental vaccines developed in China are currently undergoing late-stage trials to determine their effectiveness in preventing COVID-19.
How good is the experimental vaccine?
该篇论文的作者之一朱凤才教授表示，通过间隔14天注射两剂疫苗的做法，科兴疫苗能够在四周的时间内快速诱导免疫反应。
研究人员称，大规模的后期阶段试验，即三期临床试验的结果对于确定中国新冠疫苗引发的免疫反应是否能保护人们不受感染来说尤为重要，未来还须研究抗体反应的持续时间。
目前，科兴疫苗正在印度尼西亚、巴西和土耳其进行三期试验，其最终结果将在三期试验结束之后发布。
The Sinovac findings, published in a peer-reviewed paper in The Lancet Infectious Diseases, came from results in Phase I and Phase II clinical trials in China involving more than 700 participants.
"Our findings show that CoronaVac is capable of inducing a quick antibody response within four weeks of immunization by giving two doses of the vaccine at a 14-day interval," Zhu Fengcai, one of the authors of the paper, said.
Researchers said the findings from large, late-stage studies, or Phase III trials, would be crucial to determine if the immune response generated by CoronaVac was sufficient to protect people from the coronavirus infection.
Sinovac is currently running three Phase III trials, in Indonesia, Brazil and Turkey.
Naor Bar-Zeev from Johns Hopkins University, who was not involved in the study, said the results must be interpreted with caution until Phase III results are published.
"But even then, after Phase III trial completion and after licensure, we should prudently remain cautious," he said.
"Attractive option"
“克尔来福”并不是中国新冠疫苗研发领域的“独苗”。
近日发表的这篇同行评议论文表示，中国新冠疫苗应急计划中由国药集团相关研究所开发的另外两种疫苗和中国科兴公司的另一种疫苗在一、二期试验中也被证明是安全的，并可引发免疫反应。
CoronaVac is one of three experimental COVID-19 vaccines China has been using to inoculate hundreds of thousands of people under an emergency use program.
The two other vaccines in the program, both developed by institutes linked to Sinopharm, and another vaccine from CanSino Biologics, were also shown to be safe and triggered immune responses in early and mid-stage trials, according to peer-reviewed papers.
与美国制药商辉瑞、Moderna研发的新冠疫苗相比，科兴的“克尔来福”有自己的优势。
辉瑞公司的疫苗必须在零下70摄氏度的温度下储存和运输， Moderna公司的疫苗虽然预计能在正常冰箱温度下稳定保存30天，但如果要保存6个月以上，则也需要零下20摄氏度的储存环境。而“克尔来福”可以在常温2到8摄氏度的冰箱中保存并保持稳定长达三年。
Gang Zeng, a Sinovac researcher involved in the CoronaVac study, said the vaccine could be an attractive option because it can be stored at normal fridge temperatures of 2 to 8 degrees Celsius (36°-46°F) and may remain stable for up to three years.
"(It) would offer some advantages for distribution to regions where access to refrigeration is challenging," the author said.