Coronavirus: Indonesia says not yet able to determine Sinovac vaccine efficacy

Bio Farma said efficacy cannot be determined at this time, and it was necessary to wait for complete data

The state-owned pharmaceutical firm had said earlier that clinical trial results showed CoronaVac has 97 per cent efficacy

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A container with Covid-19 vaccines from China’s Sinovac arrives at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Tangerang, near Jakarta, on December 6. Photo: Reuters

Published: 6:13pm, 8 Dec 2020Updated: 12:09am, 9 Dec 2020

Indonesia’s state-owned pharmaceutical company Bio Farma said late on Tuesday the efficacy of a Covid-19 vaccine developed by China’s Sinovac could not yet be determined, after previously saying that interim data showed 97 per cent efficacy.

In a statement, Bio Farma said the interim report from the Phase III trial is expected to be available in January.

Bambang Heriyanto, an official at Bio Farma, said efficacy cannot be determined at this time, and it was necessary to wait for complete data.

Bio Farma had said earlier on Tuesday that clinical trial results showed the vaccine has 97 per cent efficacy.

Sinovac said last month that 97 per cent of healthy adults receiving lower dosage taking part in its Phase 1-2 trial showed antibody-related immune response after taking its Covid-19 vaccine CoronaVac.

A Sinovac spokesman said on Tuesday the company had not received efficacy readings from Phase III clinical trials.

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