A LARGE-SCALE study on the effectiveness of the Sinovac vaccine recently carried out in Indonesia has yielded excellent results, according to reports earlier this week. In the interest of firmly putting an end to lingering skepticism and hesitancy about the vaccine, opinions that are entirely political in nature and in no way based on medical science, we feel it is important to explain the significance of the study’s findings.

To be accurate, the vaccine commonly referred to as “Sinovac” here is actually called “CoronaVac.” It is a product of Sinovac Biotech Ltd., a Beijing-based company — not a Chinese government-owned corporation — that specializes in vaccine development, including influenza, hepatitis and mumps, besides its vaccine against the novel coronavirus.