Confusion reigns over the effectiveness of a Chinese Covid-19 vaccine due to be rolled out in Thailand next month. Thailand has ordered 2 million doses of the Sinovac Biotech vaccine.
The rollout of this particular vaccine among high-risk groups in Indonesia will start this week. However, questions now hang over the vaccine’s efficacy rate, originally reported as 78% in trials in Brazil but more recently downgraded to just over 50%. In total, 4 different rates of effectiveness have been published.
In Indonesia data from a local trial indicates an efficacy rate of 65%. However, with only 1,620 participants, the trial is considered too small for the data to have much value. Last month, Turkey reported an efficacy rate of 91.25% in its trials, but the sample size was again deemed too small.
The largest trial of the Chinese vaccine has been in Brazil, with 13,000 participants. There are,…
