As a global rollout kicks off, with the Indonesian President Joko Widodo receiving the Sinovac Biotech Ltd. vaccine on live television Wednesday, uncertainty swirls over the efficacy of the leading Chinese shot, for which four different protection rate numbers have been released in recent weeks.
Indonesia, which is moving the fastest on distributing the Sinovac shot to its population, said that a local trial showed an efficacy of 65% against COVID-19. But only 1,620 people in Indonesia took part in that trial — too small for meaningful data.
Turkey said last month that the same vaccine showed efficacy of 91.25% in its local trial, which was similarly too small to draw a sufficient conclusion.