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China’s Covid Shot Has Four Wildly Different Efficacy Rates

  • Dueling data from trials in Brazil, Turkey, Indonesia
  • Indonesian President to receive shot Wednesday amid confusion
2020 China International Fair For Trade In Services

Photographer: Lintao Zhang/Getty Images

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Days before a global rollout kicks off with the President of Indonesia receiving the Sinovac Biotech Ltd. vaccine on live television, uncertainty swirls over the efficacy of the leading Chinese shot, for which four different protection rate numbers have been released in recent weeks.

Indonesia, which is moving the fastest on distributing the Sinovac shot to its population, said that a local trial showed an efficacy of 65% against Covid-19. But only 1,620 people in Indonesia took part in that trial -- too small for meaningful data.