Advertisement
China to allow vaccine-mixing for Covid-19 booster shots
- ‘Optimal immunisation combination’ to come soon, says head of China’s Covid-19 vaccines task force
- Faster vaccination of the elderly and booster doses in focus as country seeks way out of strict pandemic controls
Reading Time:3 minutes
Why you can trust SCMP
5
China will allow the mixing of Covid-19 vaccines for its booster shots drive, with an “an optimal immunisation combination” to be introduced very soon, a senior health official said.
The new strategy will help to reduce severe illness and deaths from Covid-19 and win the country time to adjust its strict pandemic controls, National Health Commission official Zheng Zhongwei told state broadcaster CCTV on Monday.
China has thus far prohibited the mixing and matching of vaccines, or sequential immunisation, despite studies around the world on its effectiveness and some countries recommending such a regimen.
02:01
China considers mixing Covid-19 vaccine types to boost effectiveness
China considers mixing Covid-19 vaccine types to boost effectiveness
“Whether boosting with the same or a different technology, the levels of [neutralising] antibodies will grow significantly in both cases,” Zheng, head of the government task force on Covid-19 vaccine development, told CCTV.
Advertisement
“While sequential boosting increases levels of neutralising antibodies even more, [using] the same technology is relatively better tolerated.”
Neutralising antibodies are an indicator of immediate immunity protection against a virus.
Advertisement
“We have also done a series of follow-up studies on the … different technical routes and it seems that safety is still guaranteed,” Zheng added.
“We believe that we will achieve better results in the prevention of severe illness and death by boosting immunisation with the same or different technological platforms, regardless of [coronavirus] variants. So we will introduce an optimal combination of booster vaccines … and I think we should see the results soon.”
Advertisement
Select Voice
Choose your listening speed
Get through articles 2x faster
1.25x
250 WPM
Slow
Average
Fast
1.25x