Sinovac Biotech Ltd.’s vaccine is 67% effective in preventing symptomatic Covid-19 infections and wards off 80% of fatalities from the disease, according to a Chilean government study published on Friday.
The report said the Sinovac vaccine was 85% effective against hospitalizations and 89% in preventing people from entering intensive care units. This is the first such evidence showing how well the Chinese shot can protect against Covid-19 after it’s been widely used in a population.
The Chilean health ministry study followed 10.5 million citizens enrolled in the country’s public health insurance system and included people that had received one dose, two doses and no dose at all. The efficacy figures were obtained 14 days after the second dose.
The Sinovac shot’s efficacy drops if asymptomatic cases are considered, and that information will likely be included in the final version of the study, Araos said. “Including asymptomatic cases introduces more noise, but the effectiveness of preventing asymptomatic cases of Covid should be around 54% or 55%,” he said.
Meanwhile, after only one dose, the vaccine prevents about 16% of symptomatic infections, 35% of hospitalizations and 40% of deaths, Araos said. “The eventual need of a third shot is a topic that can always be discussed, though it is still quite speculative.”