“Unscientific, illogical, lazy, sloppy…” Just some of the words used by Foreign Affairs Minister Dr. Amery Browne to describe a recent newspaper report which sought to cast doubt over the efficacy of the Sinopharm Covid-19 vaccine.

“Every WHO EUL-approved vaccine, including the Sinopharm vaccine that is used in T&T and in countries across the world, has undergone extensive clinical trials for safety and effectiveness that each, across phases 1, 2 and 3, accounts for tens of thousands of clinical measures using a scientific model that is detailed, rigorous, repeatable, includes randomized control participants in a manner that reduces experimental variance due to potential confounding factors such as comorbidities, and is designed to test the specific hypotheses in a manner that can lead to conclusions which offer a measurable level of confidence, and applicability to evidence-based decision making,” the Minister said on Monday.

The article in question, which used a test sample of four people- two of whom had been administered Sinopharm, also received heavy criticism from the Pan American Health Organization, PAHO, Chinese Ambassador Fang Qiu and Prime Minister Dr. Keith Rowley, who called for someone to be fired for what he said was a criminal attempt to undermine T&T’s vaccination program.

“In embarking on the type of quest they sought to embark upon, they really should have consulted with someone at CARPHA or PAHO, or at least with anyone who passed an A’Level science subject, to assist them with the design of their little experiment and analysis. Instead they paid a single private lab $750 (per) to run four blood samples and then subsequently tried to frame an overall “test” that lead to conclusions and actual publication,” Minister Browne added.