China COVID-19 vaccines third doses are being rolled out by Beijing officials. These shots have now been dogged by a lot of doubts regarding their efficacy. The question is, will the third wave of doses make the vaccine more effective?
China COVID-19 Vaccine Risk Factor
The Washington Post reports that health experts in China state that protection coming from the vaccines may not last after six months and that people with a high risk of getting COVID-19 should get themselves a third dose. Even the Chinese state-run media outlet now suggests that Beijing is finally on board with the suggestion and is currently preparing to offer the third doses.
The United Arab Emirates and Bahrain stated last week that they would offer a third wave of the China COVID-19 Vaccine Sinopharm in order to boost protection, according to SCMP. UAE is currently offering extra shots to anyone who finally got vaccinated either six or more months ago. Bahrain is now offering a third wave of doses to high-risk groups.
mRNA Based Vaccines: Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech
According to the article by arsTechnica notes that the China COVID-19 vaccine Sinopharm and Sinovac are now made with a whole, inactivated the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. The inactivated virus vaccines now have the advantage of starting to make things relatively easy.
They could, however, come with a potential drawback of providing weaker protection compared to other target vaccine approaches like the mRNA-based vaccines like Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech. Those vaccines reportedly take aim at just a particular key element of the virus as a whole, the spike protein.
Sinovac 50% Efficacy Rate
Sinopharm reports a 79% efficacy rate for the inactivated vaccine. It hasn't, however, released the full data supporting that particular estimate. The China COVID-19 vaccine Sinovac might have a 50% efficacy rate according to the trial data that came from Brazil.
The Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention head George Gao acknowledged the problem last month stating the efficacy of the China COVID-19 vaccine is "not high," according to The Washington Post. Gao said at a conference in Chengdu that Beijing is now "formally considering" other possibilities in order to solve the problem that the efficacy of the current vaccines are not too high.
Chinese Expert Confirms
The possibilities now include increasing the number of doses that people receive or altering the individual doses. The Chinese social media quickly censored the comments and The Washington Post reports that at the time, Gao's statement had been hyped up.
Although experts have been raising questions about the China COVID-19 vaccine efficacy since the data-less release, the need for boosters is not really avoidable. Anthony Fauci, US infectious disease expert, noted that immunity to the common coronavirus is not too long-term. He also predicted that people given the very highly-efficacious mRNA vaccines might need a booster "within a year or so."
Related Article: Elon Musk COVID-19 Vaccine: Suggests EpiPen for Allergic Reaction, Prefers J&J, BioNtech, Moderna
This article is owned by Tech Times
Written by Urian B.
