Study: Sinovac 85% effective against illness among elderly in Jakarta

A Study has shown that Sinovac’s Covid-19 vaccine Coronavac is 85% effective against symptomatic illness and 92% against hospitalisation among the elderly in Jakarta, the government said.

The China-made vaccine is 95% effective in preventing deaths, a chart from the Indonesian health ministry showed on Friday.

The effectiveness against symptomatic illness is reduced to 35% if only the first jab is given.

The figures are based on a study involving 86,936 Jakarta residents aged 60 and above between March and April this year.

Vaccine effectiveness refers to the performance of a vaccine in a population under a real-world situation, while vaccine efficacy refers to the performance of a vaccine in a controlled clinical trial situation, according to the World Bank.

It also revealed that chances of a vaccinated elderly dying of Covid19 are up to 15 times less than someone who is not vaccinated.

A separate study by the health ministry on 25,374 medical workers in the capital between January and March this year showed that Coronavac was 96% effective against hospitalisation, 94% against infection and 100% in preventing deaths.

Jakarta’s figures on Coronavac’s effectiveness were higher than those reported by Chile, where it was found to be 58.5% effective in preventing symptomatic illness among 8.6 millions of Chileans who received the shots between February and July, Reuters reported.

The vaccine was 86% effective against hospitalisation, and 86% effective in preventing deaths between February and July, Reuters cited health official Rafael Araos in a press conference on Tuesday.

Indonesia aims to inoculate 214 million people – or about three-quarters of the population, including those aged between 12 and 18 – by the end of this year. So far, about 20 million have received both shots.

President Joko Widodo has said that Indonesia is conducting a three-pronged approach in combating the Covid-19 wave: boosting vaccination; imposing strict health protocols; and ramping up testing and tracing.

He pledged that the country would set up more centralised quarantine facilities and guaranteed the availability of medicine and oxygen supplies.