Coronavac reduces Covid mortality in Uruguay by 97%, preliminary study shows

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The Coronavac vaccine was able to reduce Covid-19 mortality by 97% in Uruguay, according to a preliminary study conducted by the country’s Ministry of Health and released on Thursday, May 27. The data also show that Pfizer’s vaccine showed high protection against deaths, although at a lower level than the Coronavac: 80%.

The Uruguayan government calls for caution in interpreting the data and comparing the performance of the two vaccines, since the results were not stratified by age, presence of comorbidities and higher risk of exposure to the virus.

Both vaccines also showed very high protection against ICU hospitalizations. The Coronavac reduced these hospitalizations by 95%. In the case of Pfizer’s vaccine, the decrease reached 99%.

The efficacy data, or “real-life” data, confirm that the protection against severe cases and deaths is much higher than the overall protection rate against any symptomatic stage of the disease. In the latter case, the rate was 57% for the Coronavac and 75% for Pfizer’s vaccine. This means that while a vaccine does not prevent infection, it plays a key role in preventing the disease from worsening.

The results were obtained by calculating the number of hospitalizations and deaths in the population that has now been administered both vaccine doses for over 14 days. According to the Uruguayan Ministry of Health, 712,716 people were in this situation with respect to the Coronavac. Of these, 5,360 tested positive for Covid, 19 were hospitalized in ICUs, and 6 died. This represents an infection rate of 36.9 cases per 100,000 people per day of monitoring. The hospitalization rate stood at 0.17 and the death rate at 0.04.

In Pfizer’s case, there are 149,329 people who have been fully vaccinated for over 2 weeks, of whom 691 had an infection, 1 was hospitalized in intensive care, and 8 died – all over the age of 80. The data translate into an infection rate of 21.6 cases per 100,000 people per day of monitoring. The hospitalization rate stood at 0.03, and the death rate at 0.25.

Among non-vaccinated individuals, the incidence was 85.1 cases per 100,000 people/day, the hospitalization rate stood at 5.15, and the death rate at 1.05. The numbers refer to the monitoring period between March 1 and May 25.

The Uruguayan government emphasized that the data are preliminary, and statistical adjustments for age range, presence of comorbidities, and other factors will be announced in upcoming reports.

Uruguay is one of the most advanced countries in South America in terms of vaccination. The nation has succeeded in immunizing 28% of its population with 2 doses. In Brazil, this rate stands at 10%.

This article was produced by The Rio Times’ automated newsroom system. How we use AI · Report an error