Indonesian Covid deaths and Sinovac vaccine

Indonesian Covid deaths add to questions over Sinovac vaccine

At least 10 out of 26 Indonesian doctors who have died from Covid-19 this month had been fully vaccinated with Sinovac. Indonesia, which has relied on the Chinese-made vaccine for its health workers. The latest outbreak, driven by new variants, has overwhelmed hospitals and burial sites in Jakarta and on the island of Java. On Monday the country announced 20,694 new infections.

The vaccine was approved for emergency use this month by the World Health Organization, which said efficacy results showed it prevented symptomatic disease in 51% of those vaccinated and prevented severe Covid-19 and hospitalization in 100% of the studied population.

Reports of outbreaks in other countries that have replied on Chinese-made vaccines were troubling, as many of Thailand’s health workers had been given Sinovac. “This vaccine may work, but not for everyone… It’s our job to determine who it is working [for] and who it is not.” Dr Pawin Numthavaj, a clinical epidemiologist at Ramathibodi Hospital in Thailand said the Thai government should seek a greater range of vaccines.

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