Chinese COVID-19 Vaccine Exhibits Disappointing Results

Preliminary data on the CoronaVac—a COVID-19 vaccination manufactured by the Beijing-based biopharmaceutical company Sinovac—demonstrated only about 50% efficacy in preventing mild and severe COVID-19 illness in a Brazilian clinical trial. CoronaVac had shown better results in trials conducted in Turkey and Indonesia, but its effectiveness was never close to the 90% to 95% efficacy offered by the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines. Public health officials suggest there remains a role for CoronaVac, especially among nations with out-of-control spread, like Brazil. In the Brazilian clinical trial, 167 individuals who received a placebo and 85 who were inoculated developed COVID-19 illness out of 9,200 test subjects; however, none of those infected with the novel coronavirus required hospitalization. Click here to read more.