[fChk]

This is interesting @fChk.  What do you mean with a "disarmed form"?  

A disarmed or inactivated form of a virus is when a virus is rendered unable to replicate (ie to multiply.) It's unable to replicate when you mess up its genetic material (whatever it is: DNA or RNA..), especially those genes that kick start the replication cycle or are critical to its maintenance.

In the case of the Sinopharm vaccine it's my understanding that the Chinese researchers after producing large amounts of the virus -there are cell culture protocols that allow that bulk production-, they treated them with beta-propiolactone, a chemical that disables the virus by indiscrimately bonding to their RNA/genes, thus inactivating/disarming those virions.

In the Press they may say 'killing' the virus, but to any Biologist, a virus is NOT a living being--so there is nothing to 'kill' in the first place. A virus needs a living cell and without it, a virus is just organic dust floating around.....

If it is disarmed how would one then be protected when they take the vaccine?

Thanks for this question!.. The virus might be disarmed/inactivated BUT their proteins, including the famous spike protein, are still intact in that solution... And what makes up a vaccine is that mixture of viral proteins that when injected will serve as the antigens to which our immune system will react and help to build up the ad-hoc antibodies and T4-Cells.

If I understand this correctly, do you think the Chinese vaccines are superior to the other vaccines?

I think I hinted to that in one of my previous posts here; theoretically Yes!.. and here is why:
> Both the mRNA- and the adenoviral-based vaccines are focusing their attention on a SINGLE POTENT ANTIGENIC TARGET, ie the spike protein while the more raw (and old) Chinese method use the whole virus catalogue of proteins/antigens -including the spike protein- to induce the immunization (ie the labeling as target to the immune system defenses.)

Thus there is -theoretically- no single point of failure (vis-a-is to the emergence of variants escaping the spike protein target) in the inactivated-virus vaccine while there is one in the mRNA and adenovirus vaccines.

In Immunology, folks distinguish between 2 concepts:  Immunogenicity and antigenicity:

The concepts of immunogenicity and antigenicity are critical to the understanding of adaptive immunity. By definition, an immunogen is a molecule that stimulates the immune system to produce a response. An antigen is the part of the immunogen that reacts with immune effector cells or soluble antibodies.

This is why the researchers mixed the inactivated viruses with a tiny amount of an aluminum-hydroxide adjuvant. An adjuvant is a compound routinely used in vaccines to stimulate/boost the immune system response to it, ie to serve as an immunogen!

Here is a more technical definition of what Sinopharm consists on:

Characteristics of COVID-19 vaccine BIBP COVID-19 vaccine BIBP is a Vero cell-based, aluminium hydroxide-adjuvanted, β-propiolactone-inactivated vaccine based on the 19nCOV-CDC-TAN-HB02 strain (HB02 strain) (3). The original Vero cell line was obtained from WHO, and the original cell bank, master cell bank, and working cell bank were established by BIBP. The cells used for vaccine manufacture are the working Vero cell bank, which is of the 142nd generation.

Exerpt from 'Background document on the inactivatedCOVID-19 vaccine BIBP developed by ChinaNational Biotec Group (CNBG), Sinopharm'

I think that's all there is to it!