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No mixed Covid-19 booster shots for China until scientists are sure, top disease expert says
- A mix-and-match strategy may even be better than a third jab using the same vaccine, but regulators must wait for confirmed data, Shao Yiming told CCTV
- A virologist at the University of Hong Kong described China’s insistence on using the same vaccine as a booster as ‘conservative’
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A mix-and-match strategy for Covid-19 booster shots could help raise immunity in the vaccinated population, but state regulators would need more scientific data before they could approve such an approach, one of China’s top epidemiologists has said.
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In an interview with national broadcaster CCTV on Thursday, Shao Yiming, an epidemiologist with the Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention and part of the country’s Covid-19 vaccine response team, explained that a mix-and-match strategy – receiving a different coronavirus vaccine as a booster – could be effective in sparking a stronger immune response.
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China considers mixing Covid-19 vaccine types to boost effectiveness
China considers mixing Covid-19 vaccine types to boost effectiveness
“From a scientific perspective, we understand that the mixing and matching of vaccines – including [what we have observed] in the use of vaccines for other diseases – can yield practical results that are as good as taking a third shot using the same vaccine,” Shao said.
“In some cases, mixing and matching may even give better results.”
But regulators can only give the green light when there is sufficient data to confirm safety and effectiveness, he added.
“In that sense, we need to speed up our research to collect more data. Right now, the regulators’ decision is still that the booster should use the same vaccine [instead of mixing and matching],” he said.
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