Vials distributed with Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine are seen as the island of Phuket in the Thai resort rushes to vaccinate its population against the outbreak of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and before the end of July 1 of strict quarantine for fish visitors. to bring back tourism revenues in Phuket, Thailand, April 1, 2021. REUTERS / Jorge Silva
China’s Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine was 67% effective in preventing symptomatic infection, according to data from a huge real study in China, a potential boost for the cage that has been tested for its level of protection against the virus.
The CoronaVac vaccine was 85% effective in preventing hospitalizations and 80% effective in preventing deaths, the Chilean government said in a report, adding that the data should prove a “game changer” in the vaccine on a larger scale.
Rodrigo Yanez, Chile’s deputy trade minister, who struck a deal with Sinovac to host the clinical trial of the drug and buy 60 million doses of the drug over three years, said the results showed that Chile did ” the right bet ”.
“It’s a game changer for that vaccine, and I think it’s pretty graphic ratification of the discussion about its effectiveness,” he told Reuters, adding that it should help him with World Health Organization approvals as the world’s first study. real.
CoronaVac’s stocks in Chile are running out, with the agreed supply of a total of 14.2 million to be delivered in full by the end of May. Yanez said it is negotiating another 4 million doses of vaccine and, for now, the country will switch to using several doses of Pfizer-BioNTech (PFE.N), (22UAy.DE) it owes.
The publication of CoronaVac data makes Chile one of several countries, including the United Kingdom and Israel, that have used rapid inoculation campaigns to gather information on how effective vaccines are outside controlled clinical trials and when they face unpredictable variables in societies. .
Israel’s actual study of the effectiveness of the Pfizer vaccine looked at 1.2 million people, a combination of those who received the shot and those who did not.
The Chilean study examined the effectiveness of CoronaVac among 10.5 million people, re-examining both those who were vaccinated and those who were not. The vaccines were given about 28 days apart.
CoronaVac data published by Chile compares favorably with previous published data on its efficacy in clinical trials.
Studies in Brazil have shown the overall effectiveness of the drug in preventing symptomatic infection by just over 50%, although much more effective in preventing hospitalization and against moderate and severe cases.
Indonesia approved emergency use of the vaccine based on interim data showing that it was 65% effective, while in a Turkish study it was 83.5% effective in preventing symptomatic infection and 100% effective in preventing disease. severe and hospitalization.
The Chilean study analyzed the impact of the vaccine among people in the public health system between February 2 and April 1, adjusting according to age, sex, comorbidities, income and nationality.
Its authors stressed that its results, for example less protection against death than in clinical trials, should be considered against the background of a second fierce wave of the pandemic.
He compared people who were not inoculated, people 14 days or older after receiving a dose and more than 14 days after receiving a second dose. Protection against the virus was much higher after the second blow.
Rafael Araos, the Chilean public health official who presented the study, said the report did not specifically look at how the vaccine resisted coronavirus variants, including the P1 mutant first identified in Brazil.
“The study was conducted in a period of high circulation of the virus, including variants – so these results are positive if we have no variants and also if we have,” he said.
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