Doubts are being raised in Chile over the effectiveness of the Chinese-made Sinovac vaccine, which has already been applied to half of that nation’s adult population, the Wall Street Journal has reported.
Chilean health authorities are concerned at a recent spike in Covid-19 cases, even though they have carried out far more inoculations than any other Latin American country. Sinovac accounts for almost 90 percent of all the shots administered in Chile.
The Sinovac vaccine is also being widely used in Mexico, with residents of Chapala and other lakeshore communities among those to have received these shots.
According to the WSJ, Chilean authorities last week released the results of a study of 10.5 million people, showing the Sinovac vaccine was only “16-percent effective against infection after one dose and 67-percent effective after a second dose.”
However, the study also found the vaccine to be 80-percent effective in “preventing death from Covid-19 two weeks after a second dose.”
According to the WSJ, health officials in Chile are considering whether to offer citizens a third Sinovac shot, a possibility that is currently being debated in China.
Analyzing the recent spike in infections, officials in Chile also surmised that citizens lowered their guard, ignoring safety protocols, after the speedy rollout of the first round of vaccinations.