The effectiveness of China’s domestically developed vaccines is limited, according to the country’s top disease control official, who also revealed that the authorities are considering combining them to provide better protection against the coronavirus.
Gao Fu, the head of the China Center for Disease Control and Prevention, made a rare declaration of vulnerability in Beijing’s pandemic strategy, saying that Chinese vaccines don’t have very good safety rates.
He said at a conference in Chengdu, China’s south-western capital, that it is now being formally considered whether to use separate vaccines from different technological lines for the immunization process.
Researchers in Brazil discovered that the effectiveness of a coronavirus vaccine developed by Sinovac, a Chinese company, in avoiding symptomatic infections was as poor as 50.4 percent. Pfizer’s vaccine, on the other hand, has been shown to have a 97 percent effectiveness score.
According to the Chinese state tabloid the Global Times, Gao claimed to retract his remarks on Sunday. The international view of Gao’s remarks as an acknowledgment, he told the outlet, was a misconception.
Both vaccines have varying levels of safety, which are sometimes high and sometimes low. Gao believes that scientists all over the world should think about how to increase their effectiveness.
However, Gao’s earlier comment is likely to worry the increasing number of other countries that depend on Chinese vaccines. Hundreds of millions of doses have been distributed in other countries, while Beijing has attempted to sow doubt about the efficacy of western vaccines.
Authorities in Beijing reopened visa registration for foreigners from scores of countries last month, but only if they had received Covid-19 vaccination with a Chinese-made vaccine.
Given that China’s vaccines are not accepted in many of the countries to which it has opened travel, and that it would not allow international vaccines produced abroad, even those approved by the World Health Organization, the move prompted concerns about the reasons behind the petition.
In the mid-2014 period, China approved five general or emergency vaccines, three of which, by trading or assistance, are also spread to other countries.
A “vaccine diplomacy” program to enhance China’s status as a public health donor was labelled globally, mostly taking place in Asia, Africa and South America.
