A survey of millions of Chileans who received the CoronaVac vaccine developed by China found it to be 67% effective against symptoms and 80% against death from COVID-19.
SANTIAGO, Chile – A field study of millions of Chileans who received the CoronaVac vaccine developed by China found it to be 67% effective against symptoms and 80% against death from COVID-19, the South Ministry of Health said. American country Friday.
Minister adviser Rafael Araos said the study involved 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.
It enumerated cases that started 14 days after administration of the second dose of the vaccine, which was administered 28 days after the first in Chile.
The vaccine is widely used around the world, but not in the United States or Europe.
Araos said it had reduced hospital admissions by 85%, intensive care unit visits by 89%, and deaths by 80%.
It is one of the most comprehensive studies published to date on any of the vaccines used against the novel coronavirus. Most previous studies were based on limited-group clinical studies of thousands of people who received the vaccines to test efficacy and safety before general use.
Chile has led the region with a vaccination campaign that has reached 40% of the total of 19 million people – and 27% of those have received both doses so far. It started in large part among the elderly and health professionals, but has expanded to include essential workers and more recently those aged 48 years.
It has contracted 60 million doses of the CoronaVac vaccine produced by Sinovac over three years, and it also uses vaccines manufactured by Pfizer. About 90% of the vaccines used in Chile to date have been CoronaVac.
Authorities reported Thursday that Chile has sharply reduced the number of hospital admissions of people over 70, attributed to the vaccination campaign among the elderly. But it has also seen a “sustained rise” in the number of hospital admissions of people 59 and younger.
The country has reported 1.1 million confirmed infections from the new virus and nearly 25,000 deaths.