China’s CoronaVac is showing only 50.4 percent effectiveness in final-stage tests taking place in Brazil – much lower than previous projections and just enough to obtain regulatory approval.
The new data, reported by researchers on Tuesday, is a major blow to the South American country as it faces the second wave of one of the biggest outbreaks of COVID-19 in the world.
The inoculation of Sinovac made in Beijing is just one of two vaccines that have been approved for testing by Brazilian authorities, the channel said.
Last week, researchers in Brazil celebrated results that show a much higher 78 percent effectiveness rate against “mild to severe” cases of COVID-19, but did not disclose that there was a group of people who received the vaccine and still developed “ very mild ”infections.
The latest data includes this group, according to Richard Palacios, medical director of clinical research at the biomedical center of Butantan, in São Paulo.
Palaces and government officials insisted that the data was still good news, because none of the volunteers needed hospitalization – so even if the vaccine is effective only 50 percent of the time, the cases are mild and do not overburden overburdened hospitals. from the country.
“It is a vaccine that will start the process of overcoming the pandemic,” microbiologist Natalia Pasternak told Reuters.
“We have a good vaccine. It is not the best vaccine in the world. It is not the ideal vaccine, ”said the scientist, criticizing Butantan’s triumphant tone.
Butantan officials also argued that the design of the study in Brazil – which focused on frontline health professionals and used elderly volunteers – made it impossible to compare it with other tests that take place outside the country.
Turkish researchers found last month that Beijing inoculation was 91.25 percent effective and Indonesia only granted emergency vaccine approval on Monday, when provisional data showed it to be 65 percent effective.
The injections by Pfizer and Moderna, both approved for emergency use in the United States, proved to be 95% effective in repelling COVID-19 in their crucial Phase 4 tests.
Brazil’s national immunization program relies on CoronaVac, along with the injection created by Oxford University and AstraZeneca. Neither has been approved for use.
Wired Poles