Peru suspended an advanced-phase trial of the new coronavirus vaccine from Chinese state giant Sinopharm on Saturday because an elderly volunteer developed muscle weakness.
The Ministry of Health said in a statement that “the adverse event presented is under investigation to determine whether it is related to the vaccine or there is another explanation.”
Germán Málaga, professor of medicine at the Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia and coordinator of the trial, explained to the RPP radio that a 64-year-old volunteer showed a “decrease in strength in the legs” and it is suspected that it could configure a picture similar to that of the syndrome “De Guillain-Barré”.
Sinopharm began its phase three trial in Peru in September, which included 12,000 people aged 18 and 75. One group receives a Wuhan strain, another a Beijing strain, and the remainder a saline water placebo.
The suspension in Peru comes after a batch of Sinopharm vaccines arrived in Egypt on Thursday that will be applied free to the population of that country. On Wednesday, the United Arab Emirates said the Sinopharm vaccine achieved 86% efficacy in the Arab country after it began phase three of a trial that included 31,000 volunteers of 125 nationalities in July.
The vaccine has been developed by China National Biotec Group (CNBG), a unit of the state-owned China National Pharmaceutical Group (Sinopharm). The company has not yet commented on the suspension of the trial in Peru.
Sinopharm’s vaccine has been approved for emergency use in a few countries, and the company is still conducting advanced-phase trials in several nations, including Peru.
The Peruvian government is in talks with several laboratories while deciding its strategy to purchase vaccines for its population of 32 million.
Peru is one of the countries hardest hit by the virus since its appearance in March. The country added 36,544 deaths from the virus since the first case that occurred in March.
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