French President Emmanuel Macron speaks by phone during the first face-to-face EU summit since the outbreak of the new crown in Brussels, Belgium. (July 20, 2020)
WASHINGTON-
French President Emmanuel Macron said in a speech Thursday (Feb. 4) that the Chinese Communist Party‘s distribution of vaccines for the new crown virus to other countries was a “clear diplomatic success,” though he warned about the lack of information about the vaccines, saying they could even lead to the emergence of variants of the virus if they are ineffective.
Macron acknowledged Thursday in a video discussion with the Atlantic Council, a Washington think tank, that the Communist Party’s early “diplomatic success” in distributing the vaccine to other countries could be seen as “a bit of a dilemma for our [Western] leaders. “.
But he warned that the effectiveness of vaccines developed by Sinopharma or Sinovac is not known because “absolutely no information about clinical trials” has been shared.
“This means that in the medium to long term, it is almost certain that if this vaccine is not appropriate, it will promote the emergence of new variants and it will definitely not solve the situation in these countries,” Macron said.
The Communist Party has now sent millions of doses of the new crown vaccine, produced by Communist Party’s Kexing Biological Company and Sinopharm, around the world, but there are concerns about the vaccine’s effectiveness. The last phase of clinical trials conducted in Brazil showed that the vaccine produced by Kexing Biologicals was only 50.38 percent effective, nearly 30 percentage points lower than the initial results previously published. A new trial showed that the vaccine was 100 percent effective in stopping severe illness, the same as the initial results.
Macron’s comments on the Chinese Communist Party’s vaccine come a day after European Commission President von der Leyen urged Russia and the Communist Party to “present all the data” if they want their vaccine to be approved by the EU.
Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel have already said they are willing to consider using vaccines from Moscow and Beijing if EU regulators approve them.
The Washington Post report mentions that the European Medicines Agency has said it is providing scientific advice to Russia’s satellite-V vaccine and the Chinese Communist Party’s state vaccine for approval, although neither has yet submitted an application.
The Bloomberg report mentions that the EU is lagging behind the U.S. and the U.K. in vaccination, and Macron has been defending the EU’s approach of jointly purchasing vaccines to avoid competition among member states. He is also putting pressure on pharmaceutical companies to increase vaccine production in France.
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