A health worker administers a dose of Chinese CoronaVac vaccine against COVID-19 to a man at a vaccination center in Santiago on March 16, 2021. – The vaccination campaign is about to overcome the barrier of 5 million people inoculated in Chile. (Photo by CLAUDIO REYES / AFP) (Photo by CLAUDIO REYES / AFP via Getty Images)
Photographer: CLAUDIO REYES / AFP
Photographer: CLAUDIO REYES / AFP
The Sinovac Biotech Ltd. vaccine is 67% effective in preventing symptomatic Covid-19 infections and prevents 80% of deaths from the disease, according to a Chilean government study published Friday.
The report said that the Sinovac vaccine was 85% effective against hospitalizations and 89% in preventing people from entering intensive care units. This is the first such evidence to show how well the Chinese can be shot against Covid-19 after it has been widely used in a population.
A health worker administers a dose of the Chinese CoronaVac vaccine against COVID-19 to a man at a vaccination center in Santiago on March 16, 2021.
Photographer: CLAUDIO REYES / AFP
The study by the Chilean Ministry of Health followed 10.5 million citizens enrolled in the country’s public health insurance system and included people who received one dose, two doses and not at all. Efficacy figures were obtained 14 days after the second dose.
While the 80% efficiency against death is significant, “naturally, there is disappointment,” Rafael Araos, an adviser to the undersecretary of public health, told reporters. However, real-life outcomes are always expected to be lower than the outcome of a clinical trial.
The image developed by the vaccine maker in Beijing and released so far in more than 30 countries has faced growing questions about its effectiveness, following data from Brazil showing that it has barely exceeded the 50% threshold in prevention. coronavirus and one of its most worrying mutations. Nations such as Brazil and Indonesia are dependent on Sinovac doses to inoculate their populations after more effective mRNA vaccines have been largely disrupted by richer nations.
Read more: Covid is more deadly in Brazil than India and no one knows why
The effectiveness of Sinovac photography decreases if asymptomatic cases are considered, and this information is likely to be included in the final version of the study, Araos said. The inclusion of asymptomatic cases introduces more noise, but the effectiveness of preventing asymptomatic cases of Covid should be about 54% or 55%, he said.
Meanwhile, after a single dose, the vaccine prevents about 16 percent of symptomatic infections, 35 percent of hospitalizations and 40 percent of deaths, Araos said. “The possible need for a third photo is a topic that can always be discussed, although it is still quite speculative.”
Intensive care
Despite leading one of the fastest vaccine launches in the world, cases in Chile continued to rise after virus restrictions were eased late last year. Nearly 40% of the population has received at least one dose, while about 27% are fully vaccinated, according to Bloomberg Vaccine Tracker.
There is evidence that vaccines are starting to work. Number of Chileans decrepit more than 70 people currently in intensive care units because of Covid is less than half of what the number of young people in intensive care would suggest, according to calculations made by Bloomberg News based on a linear regression until January this year .
Anecdotal data suggest that the Brazilian version, currently widespread in Latin America, hits young people younger than previous strains, which could partly explain the discrepancy. However, the number of intensive care patients in the first groups who were vaccinated decreased, even though the total number of patients increased.
While the company and governments around the world that ordered the Sinovac shooting have defended their merit in preventing mild and severe cases of Covid at much higher rates, overall effectiveness remains significantly at 95% seen in mRNA photographs developed by Sinovac. Pfizer and Moderna Inc. and about 80% protection shown in similar inactivated photos from other Chinese and Indian developers.
The Sinovac shot was found to have a much higher efficacy rate of 83.5% in Turkey, where it conducted a study involving more than 10,000 people, which added to the confusion about the true potency of the vaccine. Sinovac said the low efficacy found in the Brazilian study was partly due to the shorter-than-14-day interval between the two doses of the vaccine and the higher exposure to the virus among study participants, all of whom were high-risk health workers.
– With the assistance of Sebastian Boyd and Eduardo Thomson
(Updates with official government quotes starting with the fourth paragraph)