The CoronaVac vaccine developed by Chinese pharmaceutical firm Sinovac is up to 67% effective in preventing symptomatic COVID-19, Chile's Ministry of Health said on Friday.

Rafael Araos, doctor and advisor to the Undersecretariat of Public Health, announced the efficacy finding during the presentation of the results of a study titled "Effectiveness of the inactivated CoronaVac vaccine against SARS-CoV-2 in Chile."

The study also showed the vaccine to be up to 85% effective in preventing hospitalization, 89% effective in preventing admission to an intensive care unit (ICU), and 80% effective in preventing death caused by the novel coronavirus disease, said Araos.

A vaccine's efficacy is the protection it provides under real-life conditions and the results of the study were based on CoronaVac's effectiveness 14 days after the second dose, explained Araos, who is also the former head of epidemiology at the Health Ministry.

Health officials said the report was preliminary and would be updated monthly.

During the same presentation, Chilean Health Minister Enrique Paris said the vaccine being used by Chile "is showing effectiveness."

"We have to continue vaccinating and we cannot relax self-care measures," he added.

The study considered about 10.5 million people aged 16 or older, and was carried out comparing those who were fully and partially immunized with CoronaVac and those yet to be vaccinated.

Chile launched its mass vaccination drive in February, after first inoculating healthcare workers in December 2020 and January 2021.

As of Thursday, a total of 7,664,226 people in Chile were vaccinated against COVID-19, representing about 50% of the target population of 15 million.

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