Chinese study suggests using different Covid-19 vaccines for booster shots may be more effective than third dose of Sinovac
- Those given CanSino’s product after two shots of Sinovac recorded higher antibody levels than those who received a third dose of the same vaccine
- The two products use different technologies and CanSino’s single-dose product recorded higher efficacy rates in trials
Zheng Zhongwei, director of the National Health Commission’s Development Centre for Medical Science and Technology, said in Beijing on Tuesday that “only after sufficient scientific data on safety and immunogenicity or efficacy have been obtained can we make expert recommendations for sequential immunisation on large populations”.
The study, carried out by a team from the Jiangsu Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, showed higher levels of neutralising antibodies – which can help protect against Covid-19 – in those given CanSino as a booster compared with those who received a third shot of Sinovac.
“Assuming that the neutralising antibody levels correlated with the level of protection for human beings, a … vaccination with CoronaVac [Sinovac] and Convidecia [by CanSino] could be potentially associated with a superior protection to Sars-CoV-2 [the virus that causes Covid-19] in vaccinated human beings,” the study said.