(TibetanReview.net, Jan09’21) – China has silenced a doctor who has called the Covid-9 vaccine developed by the state-run, Shanghai-based firm Sinopharm “the most unsafe in the world”. It has made vaccine expert Dr Tao Lina to apologise to his countrymen, reported the dailymail.co.uk Jan 7. China approved the vaccine for general public use on Dec 31.
After having described the potential adverse impact of Sinopharm’s vaccine as “unprecedented”, Dr Tao has made a U-turn, denying having criticised the vaccine after his remarks were reported outside mainland China, the report said.
Dr Tao had earlier written to his 4.8 million social media followers on Jan 5 that the Covid-19 vaccine that had been rolled out in the country was “the most unsafe in the world”; that it had as many 73 side-effects.
But he has now denounced foreign media outlets for ‘twisting’ and ‘exploiting’ his words.
The report said a screenshot of the doctor’s original post showed he had mentioned that none of the vaccines in the world “had more side effects” than the two-dose Covid-19 regimen from Sinopharm and described its potential adverse impact as “unprecedented”.
The listed side effects were stated to include pain around the injection area, headache, high blood pressure, loss of vision and taste, and urinary incontinence.
Sinopharm’s vaccine remains controversial as no detailed efficacy data has been publicly released by its developer.
Nevertheless, the company has said its vaccine was 79.34% effective in preventing people from developing the disease based on interim data.
The South China Morning Post newspaper reported that China would vaccinate 50 million people from high-priority groups before the Lunar New Year holiday in February.
Dr Tao has now also claimed to have received the first dose of the Sinopharm vaccine and was due to get his second dose on Jan 9.
He has insisted that the Chinese treatment was “very safe” and apologised to his fellow countrymen for his “imprudent” choice of words.
He has claimed to have written the social media post in an “extremely sarcastic” manner.
