Chinese pharmaceutical company Sinovac’s coronavirus vaccine has an efficacy rate of 83.5%, Turkey’s Hacettepe University announced on Wednesday.
The university in the capital Ankara said in a statement that the vaccine was “100% effective” in preventing hospitalizations due to the virus.
Professor Serhat Ünal of Hacettepe University, who also serves as a member of the Health Ministry’s Coronavirus Scientific Advisory Board, said at a press conference in the capital on Wednesday that the vaccine’s efficacy would likely be similar for people aged 65 and above.
The efficacy rate stirred up a debate after Brazilian trials of CoronaVac showed a much lower efficacy rate than the trial conducted in Turkey. However, experts link the difference to the profile of the volunteers, from their ages to professions, as well as trialing the vaccine against only very mild cases. Turkey had conducted trials for all types of cases. Sinovac’s vaccine formula contains a virus component, a “neutralized” version of the coronavirus. In this way, the vaccine aims to revive the body’s natural defenses against the weakened virus, triggering an immune response.
On the efficacy of the vaccine against new virus variants, Ünal said all vaccines were being tested against variants but no results were available yet. “There is doubt that this vaccine can also be less effective against variants, like all others may be, but this does not mean that we should stop vaccinating,” he said.
