Coronavirus: evidence shows need for second, third booster shot in China, former CDC chief says

Gao Fu makes the remarks days after China’s CDC says ‘well-timed’ second booster shot is necessary to exit the pandemic

Data shows only 64 per cent of population has received first booster shot

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Gao Fu, the former head of the Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, speaks to journalists in Beijing, January 26, 2020. Gao has suggested that the mainland may require as many as three booster shots. Photo: AP

Published: 6:20pm, 26 Sep 2022

Evidence points to need for a second and third coronavirus booster shot in China, according to a former head of the Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Asked at a conference in Shanghai on Saturday if it would be necessary to continue to take booster doses, Gao Fu said many decisions concerning the next steps were “dynamic and based on scientific research”.

“Now the existing data support taking a booster dose, the fourth or even the fifth dose, after two shots of vaccines,” Gao said.

He also suggested at the conference – hosted by the Shanghai Institute for Advanced Studies at the University of Science and Technology of China – that voluntary nature of vaccination might change.

“Vaccination currently follows a voluntary basis, the country will make dynamic adjustments as time goes by,” Gao said.

His comments came just days after officials from the CDC published an article saying that a well-timed second booster dose was a prerequisite to exit the pandemic.