A health worker will administer a dose of China’s CoronaVac vaccine against COVID-19 to a man at a vaccination center in Santiago on March 16, 2021. – The vaccination campaign is about to cross the barrier of 5 million people vaccinated in Chile. (Photo by CLAUDIO REYES / AFP) (Photo by CLAUDIO REYES / AFP via Getty Images)
Photographer: CLAUDIO REYES / AFP
Photographer: CLAUDIO REYES / AFP
The vaccine from Sinovac Biotech Ltd. is 67% effective in preventing symptomatic Covid-19 infections and wards off 80% of deaths from the disease, according to a Chilean government study published Friday.
According to the report, the Sinovac vaccine was 85% effective against hospital admissions and 89% for preventing people from entering intensive care. This is the first evidence showing how well the Chinese shot can protect against Covid-19 after being used extensively in a population.
A health worker will administer a dose of China’s CoronaVac vaccine against COVID-19 to a man at a vaccination center in Santiago on March 16, 2021.
Photographer: CLAUDIO REYES / AFP
The Chilean Ministry of Health study followed 10.5 million citizens enrolled in the country’s public health insurance system and included people who received one dose, two doses, and no dose at all. Efficacy figures were obtained 14 days after the second dose.
While 80% effectiveness against death is significant, “there is of course disappointment,” Rafael Araos, adviser to the undersecretary of public health, told reporters. “Nevertheless, real-life results are always expected to be lower than the results of a clinical trial.”
The shot developed by the Beijing-based vaccine maker and rolled out to date in more than 30 countries has met growing questions about its efficacy after data emerged from Brazil showing that it hit the 50% minimum threshold for prevention of the coronavirus and one of the most concerning mutations. Countries such as Brazil and Indonesia depend on the doses of Sinovac to inoculate their populations after the more effective mRNA vaccines were largely picked up by wealthier countries.
Read more: Covid is more deadly in Brazil than India and no one knows why
The efficacy of the Sinovac shot diminishes when asymptomatic cases are considered, and that information is likely to be included in the final version of the study, Araos said. “Including asymptomatic cases introduces more noise, but the effectiveness of preventing asymptomatic cases from Covid should be about 54% or 55%,” he said.
Meanwhile, after just one dose, the vaccine prevents about 16% of symptomatic infections, 35% of hospitalizations and 40% of deaths, Araos said. “The ultimate need for a third shot is a topic that is always negotiable, although it is still quite speculative.”
Intensive care
Despite being one of the fastest vaccinations in the world, cases in Chile continued to increase after virus-related restrictions were relaxed late last year. Nearly 40% of the population has received at least one dose, while about 27% has been fully vaccinated, according to the Bloomberg Vaccine Tracker.
There is some evidence that vaccines are starting to work. The number of Chileans deprecated According to Bloomberg News calculations based on a linear regression through January of this year, more than 70 currently in intensive care units because of Covid is less than half of what the number of younger people in ICUs would suggest.
Anecdotal data suggests that the Brazilian variety, which is currently spreading through Latin America, affects younger people harder than previous species, which may partially explain the discrepancy. Nevertheless, the number of IC patients in the first groups to be vaccinated has actually decreased, while the total number of patients increased.
While the company and the governments around the world that ordered the injection of Sinovac have defended its merit in preventing mild and severe cases of Covid to a much higher degree, overall efficacy still lags significantly at a staggering 95% observed in mRNA shots developed by Pfizer and Moderna Inc. and the roughly 80% protection shown in similar inactivated shots from other Chinese and Indian developers.
The Sinovac injection was found to have a much higher 83.5% efficacy rate in Turkey, where it conducted a trial with over 10,000 people, adding to the confusion about the vaccine’s true potency. Sinovac has said that the low efficacy found in the study in Brazil was due in part to the shorter 14-day interval between the two doses of the vaccine and the greater exposure to the virus among the study participants, all of whom were at risk. were medical workers.
– With the help of Sebastian Boyd and Eduardo Thomson
Updates with official government quotes from the fourth paragraph