TAIPEI, Taiwan – Early clinical trial results from several countries showed that a Covid-19 candidate vaccine jointly developed by the Chinese military and a Chinese private company was 65.7% effective in preventing symptomatic coronavirus cases, potentially giving China a third effective vaccine candidate in the fight against the pandemic.
The results of the advanced stage tests – which were first released in a tweet from Faisal Sultan, Pakistan’s prime minister’s special national health assistant – came at a time when global public health experts called for more transparency from Beijing and the Chinese pharmaceutical companies on the effectiveness and safety of their Covid-19 vaccines.
The candidate, developed by CanSino Biologics Inc. in conjunction with Chinese military personnel, is being tested in five countries: Pakistan, Russia, Argentina, Mexico and Chile.
Based on a multinational analysis, Mr. Sultan tweeted, The CanSino vaccine is 90.98% effective in preventing serious diseases. He wrote that the global analysis included 30,000 participants and 101 confirmed cases of Covid-19, although he did not disclose details of what was considered a symptomatic case and which one would be considered serious.
A person familiar with the matter confirmed the effectiveness figures. The Chinese military could not be reached for comment after hours.