The government has defended the use of the Sinovac vaccine and its plan to purchase 12 million more doses to combat the Delta variant of Covid-19.
The Public Health Ministry spoke on the continued use of Sinovac and its efficacy after the public questioned why an additional 12 million doses of the vaccine were included in its August-September vaccine purchase plan.
The public called for the government to instead buy mRNA vaccines which many believe are better than Sinovac.
The Department of Disease Control said that all vaccines approved by the World Health Organization (WHO), including Sinovac, are good enough to reduce critical symptoms and death.
There is a limited amount of AstraZeneca, the department said.
The ministry has just finished its study of Covid-19 vaccines' efficacy on 3,901 medical staff countrywide. The test was done for both Sinovac and AstraZeneca.
Regarding the Sinovac vaccine, the results showed that its efficacy in preventing critical illness and death is 98% and its efficacy in stopping Covid-19 infections is 72% on average.
The results of AstraZeneca were even better, with 96% efficacy in preventing infection after two doses with an interval of over 14 days among vaccine recipients, falling to 88% after only one dose.
