A study of millions of Chileans who received the CoronaVac vaccine developed by China showed that it is 67% effective against symptoms and 80% effective against death caused by COVID-19.
SANTIAGO, Chile – A real-world study of millions of Chileans receiving China-developed CoronaVac vaccine has found it to be 67% effective against symptoms and 80% effective against death from COVID-19, the southern country’s health ministry said on Friday. -American.
Ministerial Adviser Rafael Araos said the study covered 10.5 million people, including 2.5 million who received both doses of the vaccine and 1.5 million who received a single dose between February 2 and April 1.
He counted the cases that started 14 days after the application of the second dose of vaccine, which in Chile was administered 28 days after the first.
The vaccine has been widely used around the world, though not in the United States or Europe.
Araos said he reduced hospitalizations by 85 percent, intensive care visits by 89 percent and deaths by 80 percent.
It is one of the largest published studies to date on any of the vaccines used against the new coronavirus. Most previous studies have relied on clinical trials in limited groups of thousands of people who have been vaccinated to test for efficacy and safety before general use.
Chile led the region with a vaccination campaign that reached 40% of its 19 million people overall – and 27% of them have so far received both doses. It started mostly among the elderly and health workers, but has expanded to include essential workers and recently people only 48 years old.
It contracted 60 million doses of CoronaVac vaccine produced by Sinovac over three years and also used vaccines produced by Pfizer. About 90% of the vaccines used so far in Chile have been CoronaVac.
Authorities reported on Thursday that Chile has seen a sharp drop in hospitalizations for people aged 70 and over, which is credited with the vaccination campaign among the elderly. But it has also seen a “sustained increase” in hospitalizations for people aged 59 and under.
The country has reported 1.1 million confirmed infections of the new virus and nearly 25,000 deaths.