In a major development, of the 26 doctors who have died due to COVID-19 in June in Indonesia, at least 10 had already received both the doses of the vaccine developed by Chinese pharmaceutical major Sinovac Biotech Limited, reports Wall Street Journal.

It should also be noted that the vaccination status of the other 16 doctors is still being verified by the Indonesian Medical Association (IMA)'s COVID-19 mitigation group. Thus, the number of doctor deaths despite inoculation with the Chinese vaccine may further rise.

As per the IMA group's latest figures, over five months, at least 20 doctors who were fully inoculated with Sinovac’s vaccine died from COVID-19, accounting for more than a fifth of total fatalities among doctors during that period.

Also, according to the IMA, around 90 per cent of Indonesia's roughly 1,60,000 doctors have all been vaccinated with Sinovac's vaccine.

Meanwhile, epidemiologists have suggested that the deaths need to be investigated to determine whether factors such as poor hospital care or underlying illnesses played a role. Further, the experts also noted that Sinovac vaccine was “probably not as effective a vaccine as most of the other vaccines that are on the market”.