The Department of Disease Control (DDC) has reassured the general public on the safety and effectiveness of Chinese-made COVID-19 vaccine from Sinovac Biotech, which is right now the majority of the vaccines available in Thailand’s vaccination program.
The DDC says Sinovac’s vaccine is still considered safe and effective, as the vaccine has a 100% efficacy in preventing severe illness and hospitalization from COVID-19.
This DDC statement comes after news reports yesterday citing the chief of China Centers for Disease Control Gao Fu, who said Chinese vaccines “don’t have very high protection rates,” and that China is considering the use of different vaccines.
The DDC Director General Dr Opas Karnkawinpong says there are different goals in the vaccination program, from infection prevention, to the prevention of severe illness, and the prevention of death.
He said Sinovac’s vaccine may not have a 100% infection prevention efficacy, but the number is acceptable at more than 50%.
According to a trial in Brazil, Sinovac’s vaccine is reported to have the overall effectiveness as low as 50.4%. The results in other places such as Indonesia and Turkey are better. There is however no results from the company’s Phase 3 trials published in any peer reviewed medical journal as of today.
With 2 million doses arrived in Thailand and 500,000 more on order, Sinovac’s COVID-19 vaccine is currently the main type of vaccine available in Thailand. The country is expected to shift to AstraZeneca in it mass vaccination drive starting in May-June, with deliveries of locally manufactured AstraZeneca vaccine.
The DDC says Sinovac’s vaccine has passed the benchmarh in terms of effectiveness and quality, however other health measures such as mask wearing and social distancing must continue for a while, even with the vaccination program underway. (NNT)
