Big Chile study finds that Chinese vaccine has a COVID mortality rate

SANTIAGO, Chile – A real study of millions of Chileans using the CoronaVac vaccine developed by China has found that it is 67% effective against symptoms and 80% against COVID-19, the South American country’s Ministry of Health said on Friday .

Ministry adviser Rafael Araos said the study covers 10.5 million people, including 2.5 million who received both doses of the vaccine and 1.5 million who received a single dose between February 2 and April 1. .

This counted cases starting 14 days after administration of the second dose of the vaccine, which was given 28 days after the first in Chile.

The vaccine is widely used worldwide, but not in the United States or Europe.

Araos said he reduced hospitalizations by 85%, visits to intensive care by 89% and deaths by 80%.

This is one of the broadest studies published so far of any vaccines used against the new coronavirus. Most previous studies were based on clinical studies of limited groups of thousands of people who were given the vaccines to test efficacy and safety before general use.

Chile has led the region with a vaccination campaign that has reached a total of 40% of the 19 million people – and 27% of those have received both doses so far. It started for the most part among the elderly and health workers, but has expanded to essential workers and more recently people up to 48 years.

It has shrunk 60 million doses of Sinonaac-produced CoronaVac vaccine over three years, and also uses vaccines manufactured by Pfizer. About 90% of the vaccines used so far in Chile were CoronaVac.

Authorities reported Thursday that Chile was experiencing a sharp decline in hospitalization of people aged 70 and older, something attributed to the vaccination campaign among the elderly. But there is also a “continuous increase” in hospitalizations of people aged 59 and younger.

The country reported 1.1 million confirmed infections of the new virus and nearly 25,000 deaths.