Volunteers received Covid-19, did the Corona Sinovac vaccine fail? This is the page of the expert said everything

KOMPAS.com – At some point a volunteer from the Sinovac corona vaccine trial was reported to be infected with Covid-19.

This news later shocked the public and raised doubts about the effectiveness of the vaccine developed by the Chinese company.

In response to this, Indonesian molecular biologist Ahmad Utomo revealed that this event did not mean that the vaccine did not protect against corona virus infection.

“This is not a protection failure, because we are still conducting clinical trials. This is because clinical trials will continue until December 2020 or January 2021,” Ahmad told Kompas.com, Sunday (9/13/2020).

However, what must be emphasized in this case, Ahmad said, is the volunteer status of the patient.

Also read: Not only in Indonesia, Corona Sinovac vaccine is also clinically tested in Bangladesh and Brazil

Because according to him, this status does not need to be disclosed, but in fact his status as a Covid-19 survivor should be published.

The purpose, for the needs tracking or seeking contacts in an effort to control potential transmission of the virus.

Explaining the case of the corona vaccine volunteer infected with Covid-19, Ahmad relayed it in the video that he uploaded to the YouTube site.

Also read: Covid-19 Sinovac Vaccine Approved Clinical Trial, What are the requirements to become a volunteer?

However, regarding the public’s claim that the Sinovac vaccine being clinically tested failed, Ahmad suspected that there was an understanding that was not passed on.

The corona vaccine clinical trial conducted by Sinovac, China’s biotechnology company, is currently in phase 3 trials conducted by Padjajaran University, Bandung.

“In the community’s imagination, up to 1,600 volunteers, all of whom are vaccinated. If you think so, then it’s natural for them to fail, actually, they’re still vaccinated against Covid-19,” Ahmad said.

In fact, it is important to understand that in the Sinovac vaccine clinical trial, the vaccine will not be injected into all the thousands of volunteers that were sampled.

BETWEEN PHOTOS / M Agung Rajasa Health workers display the vaccine during a clinical trial simulation for the COVID-19 vaccine at the Padjadjaran University School of Medicine, Bandung, West Java on Thursday (6/8/2020). The simulation was carried out to see the preparation of medical personnel in the handling and clinical tests of Phase III of the COVID-19 vaccine produced by Sinovac to 1,620 volunteers. BETWEEN PHOTOS / M Agung Rajasa / nz *** Local Caption ***

The placebo and vaccine groups

Ahmad explained that of the 1,600 people, divided into two groups of volunteers, one group was given the Sinovac vaccine, while the second group was only given a placebo.

What the public needs to know is that, Ahmad said, clinical trials to see the effectiveness of vaccines are conducted at random or random. “double-blind“.

“It means that both those who were vaccinated and those who gave the vaccines, they both did not know if what they injected was a vaccine or a placebo,” Ahmad said.

Similarly, in the case of a vaccine volunteer infected with Covid-19, he also did not know if he received the corona virus vaccine or just a placebo.

“So this is not proof that the vaccine has failed. We will see around December 2020 or January 2021, the data will open. Then it will be analyzed and compared,” Ahmad said.

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The data will show a comparison of the groups that received the vaccine and those that received the placebo, which is more infected with Covid-19.

Ideal comparison of vaccine efficacy

Ahmad further explained that in late 2020 or early 2021, data from clinical trials will show little comparison of the two groups of volunteers who received the vaccine and the placebo.

Ahmad revealed that if the results show that there are more volunteers who are vaccinated against Covid-19, then ethically the clinical trial should be stopped.

“But if, for example, Covid-19 doesn’t happen together until December or January, then it is considered a failure,” Ahmad said.

Why could this be possible? Ahmad explained that the West Java government was very aggressive in campaigning for Q3 (test, tracking, treatment) and 3M (wear masks, wash hands and keep your distance).

Also read: The Chinese pharmaceutical giant’s Corona vaccine sets the most expensive price in the world

As a result, it is possible that behavior and implementation of these health protocols can prevent people from becoming infected.

“But actually the target is July. If in December or January no Covid-19 cases are shown to the volunteers, then the clinical trial will run until July,” Ahmad added.

Ideally, the Sinovac vaccine clinical trial is effective if there are 0 cases of Covid-19 for every 800 people (volunteers are injected with the vaccine). And 80 cases of Covid-19 per 800 people (injected with placebo).

“This means that the corona vaccine provides 100 percent protection against infection with the new corona virus, SARS-CoV-2,” Ahmad explained.