Vaccination in Chile: the unknowns that an efficacy study clears

Santiago, Chile.- An effectiveness of 67% in the protection against contagion and of 85% against hospitalization by Covid-19 is what the vaccination achieved in Chile, as reported this Friday at a press conference of the Ministry of Health. Here are the results of the study “Vaccine efficacy CoronaVac with an inactive SARS-CoV-2 virus in Chile ”, an analysis of the results to date thanks to the mass vaccination campaign that began on February 3.

The working group was led by Dr Rafael Araos, who was also responsible for epidemiology for a few months at the start of the health emergency. In addition, the study showed that the Chinese vaccine is able to prevent 85% of hospitalizations and 89% of admissions to intensive care units (ICU). Chile is the fastest growing country with the vaccination campaign in Latin America and among the fastest in the world (40% of the population has received at least one dose).

The data considers 6.8 million people with the first dose and over 4 million with the second dose, but protection is calculated for those who have already completed 14 days after the end of the vaccination schedule.

The study also showed that the formula is able to prevent 85% of hospitalizations and 80% of deaths., although Araos explained that because it is a “late event”, said data can be analyzed with greater precision as time passes.

“The vaccine we used is showing efficacy, we must continue to vaccinate and we cannot relax the self-management measures”, Underlined Minister Enrique Paris.

10 days ago, a study prepared by the University of Chile on the vaccination against Covid-19 in the country has shown an efficacy of 56.5% in preventing new infections two weeks after the administration of the second dose and pointed out that a single dose does not protect against infection for the coronavirus. Work examined the combined effect of the two vaccines currently applied in Chile: that of the Chinese pharmaceutical Sinovac, which represents 93% of the doses administered to date, and that of the American Pfizer (in collaboration with the German company BioNTech).

The study established three conclusions on effectiveness in preventing new infections: gave a 56.5% for people who finished more than two weeks after receiving both doses; a 27.7% for those who also received both doses, but still have not exceeded 14 days after the last application, and only one 3% (equal to the margin of error) for those who received a single dose, raising questions about the implementation of any of the Chinese vaccines.

Reuters Agency and El Mercurio / GDA newspaper

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