We can’t rule out risks with Covid-19 mRNA vaccines, top Chinese health official says

The technology is being used on healthy people for the first time, raising safety concerns, Chinese CDC chief warns

Chinese investigators have also not found an animal origin of the coronavirus, he says

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US regulators gave emergency approval for Moderna’s mRNA coronavirus vaccine. Photo: AFP

Published: 6:00am, 31 Dec 2020Updated: 6:55pm, 31 Dec 2020

A top Chinese health official has voiced caution about new vaccine technology used in coronavirus shots authorised in the United States and Britain.

George Gao Fu, director of the Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, said mRNA vaccines were being administered to healthy people for the first time and such a roll-out came with risks.

“Western countries adopted the mRNA technology, which was developed for cancer patients,” state news agency Xinhua quoted Gao as saying on Tuesday. “I don’t know whether it will have side effects in the future, but the risk cannot be ruled out.

“There are safety concerns when mRNA vaccines are administered to healthy people for the first time. As professionals, we must have a scientific attitude and analyse the results.”

The mRNA technology tricks the body into making the viral protein itself which, in turn, triggers an immune response, while traditional vaccines, such as most flu shots, use inactivated viruses to set off the immune system.

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