The chairman of a Chinese vaccine producer has said that its jabs provide protection against Covid-19 for at least six months, but the firm will continue to monitor trial participants to see how much longer immunity lasts.
“From the data we obtained, there is no problem for half a year [of Covid immunity],” Yang Xiaoming, chairman of state-owned Sinopharm subsidiary China National Biotec Group (CNBG) told Xinhua on Friday.
“The first person who received the vaccine has been observed for more than eight months, and the result shows that it is still effective,” Yang said.
The World Health Organization demands that any vaccine should provide immunity for at least six months. Last month, Zeng Yixin, deputy director of the National Health Commission, claimed there was little worry that Chinese vaccines wouldn’t meet the six-month threshold.
Yang also claimed that at least one of their vaccines is safe for those aged between three and 17, based on clinical data obtained by the company, but he cautioned its use for those aged between three and five years.
“It should be noted that for three- to five-year-old children, because their immune system is still developing, they must be carefully and closely monitored during vaccination,” the CNBG chairman said.
Yang did not disclose which of the two vaccines produced by Sinopharm he was referring to. So far, CNBG has developed two Covid-19 vaccines – both of which are being used in China.
One of the vaccines, developed by CNBG’s Beijing Institute partners, has also been approved for use in several other countries, including the UAE and Egypt.
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