Turkish Trials Show China’s Sinovac Shot to Be 83.5% Effective

(Bloomberg) -- Turkish trials found China's Sinovac inoculation to be 83.5% effective against the coronavirus, a level of protection that's lower than the country's initial predictions but significantly above Brazilian estimates.

The CoronaVac shot made by Sinovac Biotech Ltd. was 100% effective in preventing hospitalization, according to the Phase 3 trials by the prestigious Hacettepe University in Ankara, state-run Anadolu Agency reported.

Turkey has been running trials of the vaccine since September, and initial findings suggested an efficacy rate of 91.25%, the Health Ministry announced in late December.

The Chinese vaccine has delivered vastly varying efficacy rates in four clinical trial sites, leading to concerns over whether the vaccine will be effective in stemming outbreaks in the countries it's being administered.

Brazilian officials have said the CoronaVac shot was 50.38% effective in preventing coronavirus cases, a number that meets the threshold required by global regulators for approval but that's well below the country's earlier 78% assessment.

Sinovac defended its product in January, saying despite the inconsistent data readouts, the vaccine is more effective in preventing the disease if the two-dose regime is administered over a longer time frame.

Sinovac Reports Phase 3 Results of Covid-19 Vaccine Study

Turkey has an agreement to purchase 100 million doses of Sinovac's vaccine, and started inoculating citizens in January as it has sought to lift restrictions on its economy.

CoronaVac was preferred because it was found to be the safest as it was manufactured using conventional methods, Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca has repeatedly said. Nevertheless, Turkey has also signed a deal for 4.5 million doses of the vaccine produced by Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE, and said it's in talks with AstraZeneca Plc for supplies of its shot.

©2021 Bloomberg L.P.