SA regulator approves Sinovac jab - real world study shows it is 50.7% effective against Covid-19

[Yongpeng Sun-Tastaufen]

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• SA's health products regulatory authority has approved Sinovac for use in South Africa.
• The Covid-19 vaccine from Chinese biotech Sinovac is about 50% effective at preventing symptomatic coronavirus, a trial in Brazil showed.
• In June, more than 350 Indonesian healthcare workers who were vaccinated with Sinovac caught Covid-19.
• Most likely, they were infected by the Delta variant, which has become the dominant strain in South Africa.
• For more stories visit Business Insider.

The South African Health Products Regulatory Authority on Saturday approved Sinovac for use in South Africa, subject to certain conditions, including that Sinovac has to submit results of clinical studies and safety data.

The World Health Organisation approved the CoronaVac Covid-19 vaccine in June, for emergency use.

This Emergency Use Listing allows the jabs to be acquired by and dispersed through the global COVAX initiative, and also “allows countries to expedite their own regulatory approval”.

The Covid-19 vaccine from Chinese biotech Sinovac is about 50% effective at preventing symptomatic coronavirus, a late-stage trial in Brazil showed.

The two-dose CoronaVac vaccine was safe and 50.7% effective against symptomatic Covid-19, Sinovac's Brazilian partner, Butantan, said in a preprint posted in April, confirming top-line results announced by the group in a press release in January.

Butantan said at the time that "efficacy to prevent any symptomatic Covid-19 started at 50.7% and became more extensive as disease severity increased." The study authors found CoronaVac was 100% effective against severe Covid-19, but the number of cases was too small for them to be confident in the figure.

In June, more than 350 Indonesian healthcare workers who were vaccinated with China's Sinovac vaccine caught Covid-19, Reuters reported.

Most likely, they were infected with the Delta variant the outlet said, which has become the dominant strain in South Africa.

While the majority of those who tested positive for the coronavirus were asymptomatic, dozens needed hospital care.

"The data shows they have the Delta variant (in Kudus) so it is no surprise that the breakthrough infection is higher than before, because, as we know, the majority of healthcare workers in Indonesia got Sinovac, and we still don't know yet how effective it is in the real world against the Delta variant," Dicky Budiman, an epidemiologist at Australia's Griffith University told Reuters.

Last month, Indonesian health officials said the Sinovac vaccine was estimated to be 98% effective at preventing death and 96% effective at preventing hospitalisation.




@denel @Hamartia Antidote @White and Green with M/S @aziqbal @F-22Raptor

 

[Menthol]

The article is 50% right.

It's downplayed Sinovac efficacy while boosting Pfizer's.

The real story is not something like that, but the politic is.


I just want to say that Pfizer is not as effective as politically promoted in the Western media.

It may give a safe feeling for Westerners, but not as good as what they thought.

And Sinovac is not that bad as well.

The delusional safe feeling somehow can be a boomerang.


I think Westerners need to know the truth, keep wearing a mask, and practicing social distancing.