Brazil Downgrades Efficacy of Chinese-Made COVID-19 Vaccine; Exhibits Only 50% Efficacy

Sao Paulo Governor Joao Doria Gives a Press Conference about the Instituto Butanta Coronavirus (COVID -19) Vaccine

(Photo : Photo by Alexandre Schneider/Getty Images)
SAO PAULO, BRAZIL - JANUARY 07: Governor of Sao Paulo Joao Doria holds a box of the CoronaVac vaccine during a press conference to give updates about the effectiveness of the vaccine developed by the Chinese laboratory Sinovac in partnership with the Butantan Institute on January 7, 2021 in Sao Paulo, Brazil. The government of Sao Paulo reported that the CoronaVac vaccine was 78% effective in clinical tests conducted in Brazil. For severe cases and deaths, the vaccine protection has reached 100%. The Butantan Institute intends to forward to the Sanitary Surveillance Agency (Anvisa) today the authorization request for emergency use and the definitive registration of the vaccine in the country.

As Chinese-produced vaccine for coronavirus exhibited only 50 percent effectiveness in preventing infections, health officials of Brazil downgrades efficacy of the vaccine, despite the result is above the benchmark of the WHO or the World Health Organization as it is far below compared to the ones produced by some Western countries.

Brazil Downgrades Efficacy of Chinese-Made COVID-19 Vaccine

According to the New York Times, the Butantan Institute in São Paulo have released findings which indicates thee CoronaVac injection produced by Sinovac was far less effective if compared to the competing candidates which were produced by companies like Pfizer, AstraZeneca, and Moderna caused the Brazil downgrade on efficacy.

Based on health officials, the actual effective rate is lower than they previously had estimated that the Sinovac candidate will have, as it was reported last week that health officials in the country had estimated the theCoronaVac to be 78 percent effective at preventing the coronavirus.

The difference in the number appears to be in terms of data collection, as the results which were released last week did not count the number of patients who experienced very mild coronavirus infections after receiving the vaccine.

After receiving the shot, the Buhutan Institute has found, while mild or very mild infections remain possible after receiving the shot, but, overall, the Coronavac remains 100 percent effective at preventing moderate or even severe coronavirus infection.

As Brazil downgrades efficacy, due to the lower effective rate of the Sinovac candidate, it could not only lead to lower demand for public health outreach experts of China but also lower down the sales of the vaccine, The Hill reported.

Moreover, the government of China has sought to forge closer ties with countries around the world through its vaccine program.

The Chinese government pursued an accelerated rollout of its vaccine in recent weeks and has announced an effort to vaccinate 50 million individuals within its borders before January 15, which allows the second shot to be administered to many before the beginning of the Lunar New Year celebrations of the country.

On the other hand, a second vaccine candidate that was produced in China by pharmaceutical company Sinpharm, was judged by the health officials in the United Arab Emirates to be 86 percent effective at preventing the infection caused by a coronavirus, National Post reported.

The news that Brazil downgrades efficacy of the COVID-19 vaccine has prompted Singapore and Malaysia, which have already purchase agreements with Sinovac, to speak on Wednesday that they will seek more data from the Chinese firm regarding the efficacy rates before they approved and transport the supplies.

The Chairman of Sinovac Biotech, Yin Weidong shared during a news conference that the Phase III clinical trial results are sufficient to prove the safety and effectiveness of CoronaVac vaccine are good worldwide.

He also added that several countries have used vaccines from the same batch in their trials, but the countries do not have similar testing protocols.

The Brazil downgrade efficacy data was released just the same time Indonesia rolled its vaccination orgram, with Joko Widodo, the Indonesian president being the first Indonesian to be inoculated with CoronaVac of sinovac.