CoronaVac

CoronaVac
An empty vial of the CoronaVac vaccine
Vaccine description
TargetSARS-CoV-2
Vaccine typeInactivated
Clinical data
Trade namesCoronaVac
Other namesPiCoVacc
Routes of
administration
Intramuscular
ATC code
Legal status
Legal status
Identifiers
CAS Number
DrugBank
UNII

CoronaVac, also known as the Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine,[4] was a whole inactivated virus COVID-19 vaccine developed by the Chinese company Sinovac Biotech.[5][6] It was phase III clinically trialled in Brazil,[7] Chile,[8] Indonesia,[9] the Philippines,[10] and Turkey[11] and relies on traditional technology similar to other inactivated-virus COVID-19 vaccines, such as the Sinopharm BIBP vaccine, another Chinese vaccine, and Covaxin, an Indian vaccine.[12] CoronaVac does not need to be frozen, and both the final product and the raw material for formulating CoronaVac can be transported refrigerated at 2–8 °C (36–46 °F), the temperatures at which flu vaccines are kept.[13]

A real-world study of tens of millions of Chileans who received CoronaVac found it to be 66% effective against symptomatic COVID-19, 88% effective against hospitalization, 90% effective against ICU admissions, and 86% effective against deaths.[14] In Brazil, after 75% of the population in Serrana, São Paulo, received CoronaVac, preliminary results show deaths fell by 95%, hospitalizations by 86%, and symptomatic cases by 80%.[15][16] In Indonesia, real-world data from 128,290 healthcare workers showed 94% protection against symptomatic infection by the vaccine, beating results in clinical trials.[17]

Phase III results from Turkey, published in The Lancet, showed an efficacy of 84% based on 10,218 participants in the trials.[18][19] Phase III results from Brazil previously showed 50.7% efficacy in preventing symptomatic infections and 83.7% effectiveness in preventing mild cases needing treatment. Efficacy against symptomatic infections increased to 62.3% with an interval of at least 21 days between the doses.[20]

CoronaVac is being used in vaccination campaigns in various countries in Asia,[21][22][23] South America,[24][25][26] Central America,[27][28][29] and Eastern Europe.[30][31][32] By April 2021, Sinovac had a production capacity of 2 billion doses per year.[33] It was manufactured at several facilities in China,[33] with overseas manufacture planned for Brazil in September 2021[34] and eventually Egypt[35] and Hungary.[36]

On 1 June 2021, the World Health Organization (WHO) validated the vaccine for emergency use.[37][38] Sinovac has signed purchase agreements for 380 million doses from COVAX.[39] As of July 2021, CoronaVac was the most widely used COVID-19 vaccine in the world, with 943 million doses delivered.[40]

As of 14 October 2021, CoronaVac is the COVID-19 vaccine with the most doses administered worldwide.[41]

It was reported in December 2021 that a study jointly conducted by the LKS Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong (HKUMed), and the Faculty of Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CU Medicine), showed that a third dose of the Comirnaty vaccine given to those who received two doses of either Comirnaty or CoronaVac provided protective levels of measured antibodies against the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2. Three doses of CoronaVac, however, did not provide adequate levels of protective antibodies by the same measure,[42] in direct contradiction to claims made by the vaccine manufacturer.[43][44]

In October 2022, a Hong Kong study found that two doses of CoronaVac provided protection of only 64% to 75% for older adults. However, an extra booster or a third dose of CoronaVac was able to raise the level of protection against COVID-19 to about 98%.[45]

In January 2024, Sinovac confirmed that it had discontinued production of CoronaVac.[46]

  1. ^ McGeever J, Fonseca P (17 January 2021). "Brazil clears emergency use of Sinovac, AstraZeneca vaccines, shots begin". Reuters. Retrieved 17 January 2021.
  2. ^ "Anvisa aprova por unanimidade uso emergencial das vacinas" [Anvisa unanimously approves the emergency use of vaccines] (in Portuguese). Federal government of Brazil. 17 January 2021. Retrieved 20 November 2021.
  3. ^ "Patent Landscape Report COVID-19-related vaccines and therapeutics" (PDF).
  4. ^ Corum J, Zimmer C (24 December 2020). "How the Sinovac Vaccine Works". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 1 March 2021.
  5. ^ Hotez PJ, Bottazzi ME (January 2022). "Whole Inactivated Virus and Protein-Based COVID-19 Vaccines". Annual Review of Medicine. 73 (1): 55–64. doi:10.1146/annurev-med-042420-113212. PMID 34637324. S2CID 238747462.
  6. ^ Parekh N (22 July 2020). "CoronaVac: A COVID-19 Vaccine Made From Inactivated SARS-CoV-2 Virus". Retrieved 25 July 2020.
  7. ^ "New coronavirus vaccine trials start in Brazil". AP News. 21 July 2020. Retrieved 7 October 2020.
  8. ^ Cite error: The named reference Chile was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  9. ^ Cite error: The named reference 248 volunteers was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  10. ^ "DOH eyes 5 hospitals for Sinovac vaccine Phase 3 clinical trial". PTV News. 16 September 2020. Retrieved 7 October 2020.
  11. ^ "Turkey begins phase three trials of Chinese Covid-19 vaccine". TRT World News. 1 September 2020. Retrieved 7 October 2020.
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  13. ^ Cite error: The named reference nine flights was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  14. ^ Jara A, Undurraga EA, González C, Paredes F, Fontecilla T, Jara G, et al. (September 2021). "Effectiveness of an Inactivated SARS-CoV-2 Vaccine in Chile". The New England Journal of Medicine. 385 (10): 875–884. doi:10.1056/NEJMoa2107715. PMC 8279092. PMID 34233097.
  15. ^ Savarese M (1 June 2021). "Sinovac vaccine restores a Brazilian city to near normal". CTV News. Archived from the original on 1 June 2021. Retrieved 2 June 2021.
  16. ^ Pearson S (31 May 2021). "Brazil's Experiment to Vaccinate Town With Chinese CoronaVac Reduced Covid-19 Deaths by 95%". The Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 2 June 2021.
  17. ^ "China Sinovac Shot Seen Highly Effective in Real World Study". MSN. 12 May 2021. Retrieved 12 May 2021.
  18. ^ Cite error: The named reference S0140-6736(21)01429-X was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  19. ^ Evidence Assessment: Sinovac/CoronaVac COVID-19 vaccine (PDF) (Presentation). World Health Organization. 29 April 2021. Retrieved 10 July 2021.
  20. ^ Costa A (11 April 2021). "Estudo clínico que comprova maior eficácia da Coronavac é enviado para Lancet" [Clinical study proving greater efficacy of Coronavac is submitted to The Lancet]. CNN Brasil (in Portuguese). São Paulo. Retrieved 12 April 2021.
  21. ^ Tarigan E, Milko V (13 January 2021). "Indonesia starts mass COVID vaccinations over vast territory". Associated Press. Retrieved 15 January 2021.
  22. ^ "Thailand Kicks Off Covid-19 Vaccine Program With Sinovac Shots". Bloomberg.com. Retrieved 28 February 2021.
  23. ^ "China approves Sinovac vaccines for general public use". South China Morning Post. 6 February 2021. Retrieved 6 February 2021.
  24. ^ Cite error: The named reference :22 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  25. ^ Miranda NA (28 January 2021). "Chile receives two million-dose first delivery of Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine". Reuters. Retrieved 30 January 2021.
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  27. ^ "Venustiano Carranza next up for Covid vaccination in Mexico City". Mexico News Daily. 15 March 2021. Retrieved 16 March 2021.
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  29. ^ Cite error: The named reference :20 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  30. ^ "Turkey aims to vaccinate 60 percent of population: Minister – Turkey News". Hürriyet Daily News. 11 February 2021. Retrieved 12 February 2021.
  31. ^ "Vaccination with CoronaVac launched in Ukraine on April 13 – Health minister". www.unian.info. Retrieved 15 April 2021.
  32. ^ Semini L. "Albania starts mass COVID vaccinations before tourist season". ABC News. Archived from the original on 28 March 2021. Retrieved 28 March 2021.
  33. ^ a b Liu R (2 April 2021). "China Sinovac says it reached two billion doses annual capacity for COVID-19 vaccine". Reuters. Retrieved 2 April 2021.
  34. ^ Cite error: The named reference :14 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  35. ^ "Egypt to produce up to 80 million Sinovac vaccine doses annually". Arab News. 8 April 2021. Retrieved 8 April 2021.
  36. ^ "UPDATE 2-Hungarian vaccine plant to be fitted for production of Chinese Sinopharm shots -minister". Reuters. 31 May 2021. Retrieved 7 June 2021.
  37. ^ Nebehay S (1 June 2021). "WHO approves Sinovac COVID vaccine, the second Chinese-made dose listed". Reuters. Geneva. Retrieved 1 June 2021.
  38. ^ "WHO recommendation Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine (Vero Cell [Inactivated]) – CoronaVac". World Health Organization (WHO). 1 May 2021. Archived from the original on 2 June 2021. Retrieved 1 June 2021.
  39. ^ "Chinese drugmakers agree to supply more than half a billion vaccines to COVAX". Reuters. 12 July 2021. Retrieved 13 July 2021.
  40. ^ "Sinovac is world's most used vaccine, but how good is its Delta protection?". South China Morning Post. 8 July 2021. Retrieved 29 July 2021.
  41. ^ Cite error: The named reference nature-waning-immunity was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  42. ^ http://www.hku.hk: HKUMed-CU Medicine joint study finds that third dose of Comirnaty has better protection from COVID-19 variant Omicron
  43. ^ "Two Sinovac shots not enough for omicron, but 3rd shows effect". Nikkei Asia. 16 December 2021. Retrieved 8 January 2022.
  44. ^ "FactWire: Sinovac limits Hong Kong's protection against infection from Omicron, analysis suggests". 26 February 2022.
  45. ^ Doucleff M (30 December 2022). "China's COVID vaccines: Do the jabs do the job?". NPR. Retrieved 20 January 2023.
  46. ^ "科興新冠疫苗已停產 官方確認消息". Ming Pao. 11 January 2024. Retrieved 11 January 2024.