Two doses of Sinovac provide 97.2 pct protection, says expert

ANKARA

The results of the Phase 3 studies of Sinovac in Türkiye have been announced after the 164-day follow-up, as 267 out of 9,494 volunteers who received two doses of Sinovac were infected, according to a Turkish coordinator of the studies.

“The most important data is that 236 out of 267 people had a very mild disease period, while only 2.5 per 1,000 of those vaccinated had symptoms,” said Murat Akova, a professor from Hacettepe University.

Only seven out of 9,494 volunteers vaccinated with Sinovac were hospitalized, and there was no death or need for intensive care during the follow-up period, according to the study.

“Neutralizing antibody levels, one of the most important parameters determining the clinical effectiveness of the vaccine, were observed in approximately 90 percent of the volunteers,” Akova said.

The protection of the inactivated vaccine Sinovac against the variants may be lower, said Akova, reiterating that the science world suggests mRNA vaccine against the new variants of COVID-19.

“More than 6 billion doses of mRNA vaccine have been administered worldwide so far and no fatal side effects have been observed,” the expert added.

According to the weekly update published on July 10 by the World Health Organization (WHO), the number of weekly cases has increased for the fifth consecutive week, after a declining trend since the last peak in March 2022.

During the week of July 4 to 10, 2022, over 5.7 million new cases were reported, which means a 6 percent increase compared to the previous week.

At the regional level, the number of new weekly cases increased in the Western Pacific Region by 28 percent, the eastern Mediterranean region by 25 percent and the South-East Asia Region by 5 percent, while it decreased in the African Region by 33 percent.

The number of weekly deaths increased in the eastern Mediterranean region by 78 percent and the South-East Asia Region by 23 percent, while it decreased in the African Region by 17 percent and in the Western Pacific Region by 10 percent.

At the country level, the highest number of new weekly cases were reported from France with 771,260, the U.S. with 722,924, Italy with 661,984, Germany with 561,136, and Brazil with 396,781 cases.

The highest number of new weekly deaths were reported to WHO from the U.S. with 1,987, Brazil with 1,639, China with 692, Spain with 619 and Italy with 574 fatalities.

Since the first COVID-19 case was reported, the coronavirus has infected nearly 553 million people and killed more than 6.3 million, according to WHO.

The increasing trend should be interpreted with caution as several countries have been progressively changing COVID-19 testing strategies, resulting in lower overall numbers of tests performed and consequently lower numbers of cases detected, WHO said in its weekly update.