According to the first detailed result of a large late-stage study published to the public, two Covid-19 vaccines from China’s Sinopharm showed more than 70 percent efficacy against symptomatic cases.
A vaccine developed by a Wuhan-based subsidiary of Sinopharm was 72.8 percent effective against symptomatic Covid-19 at least two weeks after the second injection, based on interim results, the peer-reviewed study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association showed on Wednesday.
Another vaccine developed by a Beijing-based institute linked to Sinopharm, which this month obtained emergency use approval by the World Health Organisation (WHO), showed a 78.1 per cent efficacy, the paper said.
The readings were based on calculations over 142 symptomatic cases in a trial involving more than 40,000 participants, with 26 injected with the Wuhan unit’s vaccine and 21 with the Beijing unit’s shot.
The trial, conducted in countries including the UAE and Bahrain, did not recruit pregnant women and people under 18, while data was insufficient for the elderly and those with chronic diseases, researchers said.
Data from other trial sites in Egypt and Jordan will be included in the final analysis, researchers said.
