The results of Phase 3 trials in Turkey for CoronaVac, vaccine developed by China’s Sinovac, show the jab has 83.5% efficacy.
More than 10,000 participants between the ages of 18 and 59 were tested for the trials, whose results were published in the medical journal The Lancet.
Preliminary findings show that the vaccine had a strong antibody response, and no serious side effects or fatalities were reported among those vaccinated for the trial. Side effects were minor with most adverse events mild and occurring within seven days of an injection. The vaccine is not studied for efficacy in the long term, nor against emerging variants like delta plus. Participants of the trials were also not diverse. CoronaVac is among two vaccines in use in Turkey, along with the Pfizer-BioNTech jab.
It was already approved for emergency use in 22 countries. Turkey was among the countries running Phase 3 trials, along with Brazil, Indonesia and Chile, since 2020.
Turkey has administered more than 56 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines since its inoculation campaign began in January 2021 with CoronaVac. As of Friday, more than 16 million people have had both doses. The daily number of doses administered occasionally reaches over 1 million as the country hopes to achieve mass immunity before the end of summer. Since last month, the campaign, which first covered health care workers and senior citizens, has been open for all residents aged 18 and above.
