Thailand’s Public Health Ministry announced on Monday that double doses of the Sinovac vaccine are 71%-91% effective in reducing infection by the Alpha (UK) COVID-19 strain.
Public Health Ministry Permanent Secretary Kiattiphum Wongrajit said the findings were presented by the National Communicable Diseases and National Vaccine committees, following a study conducted to determine the effectiveness of Sinovac, when the Alpha variant was the most prevalent in the country.
The subjects of the study were from high-risk groups in Phuket, Samut Sakhon and Chiang Rai, as well as public health workers. The vaccine was 90.7% effective in the Phuket subjects, 90.5% in those in Samut Sakhon and 82.8% effective in people in Chiang Rai. The results also showed the vaccine was effective in lowering infections among public health workers by 70.9%.
Dr. Kiattiphum said data is being gathered for a similar study on the effectiveness of the vaccine against the fast-spreading Delta strain. (NNT)