The Turkish Thoracic Society announced the results of two studies on CoronaVac, a coronavirus vaccine developed by China’s Sinovac and in use in Turkey. One study shows the vaccine's safety and reports only minor side effects, while the second study proved it helped reduce COVID-19 hospitalizations.

The inactive vaccine has been subject to multiple studies in Turkey and other countries in the past, with varied results.

The society said in a statement that one of their studies involved health care workers, who were the first to receive the inactive vaccine. The other looked into positive polymerase chain reaction test (PCR) rates and coronavirus rates among those vaccinated.

Some 1,628 health care workers were monitored and only 254 among them reported side effects after the second dose. The most common side effects were pain on the spot where the vaccine is injected, headache, muscle pain and sleep problems, and they were more prevalent within 24 hours after the inoculation.

The other study, which involved 2,013 people, including health care workers and their families, showed the positive PCR test rate among people vaccinated dropped to 8.8% from 12.1% after the vaccination. The study also demonstrated that the hospitalizations decreased to 10% from 15.5% after the vaccination. The study included 245 people who tested positive before they were vaccinated and 22 patients without symptoms.