Sinovac’s vaccine proven safe and effective in several countries
China’s CoronaVac COVID-19 vaccine produced by Sinovac has been proven safe and effective after phase III trials conducted in several countries, boosting public confidence over its global rollout as Indonesian President Joko Widodo received his first shot of the CoronaVac vaccine on Wednesday.
Workers in Indonesia load over 760,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccine developed by Chinese pharmaceutical company Sinovac early Tuesday morning. The vaccines are expected to be distributed to 34 Indonesian provinces as part of the country’s mass vaccinations efforts, with President Joko Widodo set to be given the first shot. Photo: Xinhua
Sinovac’s COVID-19 vaccine is 100 percent effective in preventing severe and moderate infections, 77.96 percent effective in preventing mild cases, and has an overall efficacy of 50.4 percent in Brazil’s final-stage trials, according to researchers in Brazil on Tuesday.
Experts said the result is “good enough” considering almost all the trial participants in Brazil were high-risk medical workers, and the 77.96 efficacy for mild-case protection means the vaccine will reduce the amount of people needing hospitalization by 78 percent.
Given that medical facilities still face pressure amid a resurgence in cases, such a vaccine is fairly valuable to effectively avoid medical system collapse, experts noted.
The launch of mass vaccinations for emergency use with CoronaVac in both Indonesia and Turkey shows the overall efficacy rate at 50.4 will not undermine trust in the shots and will not dampen potential users’ commitment to purchase them, observers said in response to the Western media’s latest round of taking aim at Chinese vaccines’ overall safety and efficacy.
Turkey on Wednesday reportedly approved the emergency use of the CoronaVac vaccine. Turkey has agreed to purchase 50 million doses of Sinovac’s CoronaVac vaccine and has taken delivery of an initial 3 million doses, Reuters reported.
Yin Weidong, CEO of Chinese vaccine producer Sinovac Biotech, on Wednesday stressed that CoronaVac’s vaccine is effective and safe at a press conference.
His comments came after Indonesia’s president received the first dose of CoronaVac, on Wednesday, the first person in Indonesia’ to be vaccinated.
Sinovac has already delivered more than seven million vaccine doses in the Chinese mainland and applied for registration documents in Hong Kong to supply 1 million doses there. The pharmaceutical company will deliver those vaccines on time, Yin said.
Source:globaltimes.cn/