Prognosis
Sinovac Steps Up Defense of Shot After Confusing Data
- Shot may be more effective on longer timeline, company says
- Efficacy rates differed widely in trials held across the world
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China’s Sinovac Biotech Ltd. defended the efficacy of its Covid-19 shot, saying the vaccine that’s being rolled out from Indonesia to Brazil despite inconsistent data readouts is more effective in preventing the disease if the two-dose regime is administered over a longer time frame.
Nearly 1,400 of the 13,000 people who took part in clinical trials of Sinovac’s vaccine, called CoronaVac, received their doses three weeks apart, while most of the volunteers in the Brazil-based trials got the second jab two weeks after the first. The protection rate for the smaller group was nearly 20 percentage points higher than the 50.4% rate observed in the majority, Sinovac said in a written response to Bloomberg News.