China Mulls Mixing Different COVID-19 Vaccines To Improve Efficacy

China Mulls Mixing Different COVID-19 Vaccines To Improve Efficacy

China is considering combining different Covid-19 vaccines to improve the relatively low efficacy of its existing options, a top health expert said at a conference.

Authorities have to “consider ways to solve the problem that the efficacy rates of existing vaccines are not high,” reported Chinese media outlet The Paper, citing Gao Fu, director of the Center for the Control and Prevention of Diseases.

His comments mark the first time that a leading Chinese expert publicly alludes to the relatively low efficacy of the country’s vaccines, as China advances its mass vaccination campaign and exports its injections around the world.

China has administered about 161 million doses since vaccines began last year (most people will need two injections) and aims to fully inoculate 40 percent of its 1.4 billion people by June.

But many have been slow to sign up for the blows, with life largely normal within China’s borders and internal outbreaks under control.

Gao has previously emphasized that the best way to prevent the spread of Covid-19 is vaccination, saying in a recent interview with state media that China aims to vaccinate between 70 and 80 percent of its population between the end of March. this year and mid-2022.

At the conference in Chengdu on Saturday, Gao added that one option to overcome the efficacy problem is to alternate the use of vaccine doses that take advantage of different technologies.

This is an option that is also being explored by health experts outside of China.

Gao said experts should not ignore mRNA vaccines just because there are already several coronavirus attacks in the country, urging further development, The Paper reported.

Currently, none of China’s jabs conditionally approved for the market are mRNA vaccines, but products using the technology include those from US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer and German startup BioNTech, as well as Moderna.

China has four conditionally approved vaccines, whose published efficacy rates lag behind rival hits from Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna, which have rates of 95 percent and 94 percent respectively.

Sinovac from China previously said that trials in Brazil showed about 50 percent effectiveness in preventing infections and 80 percent effective in preventing cases requiring medical intervention.

Sinopharm vaccines have efficacy rates of 79.34 percent and 72.51 percent respectively, while CanSino’s overall efficacy is 65.28 percent after 28 days.