A Chinese study showed that a third dose of the Sinovac vaccine is effective in controlling COVID-19 variants, including the highly infectious Delta strain.
The study was carried out on 22 rehabilitation volunteers, 6 healthy volunteers, and 38 volunteers who had received their second or third Sinovac dose.
Volunteers were aged between 16 to 69 years old, and none of them was infected with COVID after receiving their Sinovac shot.
According to Wang XiangXi, a researcher from China’s Academy of Sciences, results showed a significant boost in the volunteers’ antibody count and longer periods of immunity.
“Results also showed that getting a third dose six months later provides an excellent cross-neutralization effect on the Alpha, Beta, Gamma and Delta strains.”
As of August 2021, more than 1.8 billion Sinovac vaccines have been supplied to nearly 50 countries worldwide, including China.
“The US and China need to work together”
In an exclusive interview with The Star, renowned economist and the Lancet COVID-19 Commission chairman Professor Dr Jeffrey Sachs said that the US needs to cooperate with China in controlling the pandemic.
He added that one of the major failures of the US was failing to cooperate with China in coming up with a global plan.
“This is tragic because China has done an excellent job fighting the pandemic, and the world should have learned more from China’s response plan.
The United States should learn to work with China, not try to impose its will on this country.
Dr Sachs also believed that developed countries have not generously shared their knowledge, especially in the field of vaccines.
“The global financial system is biased towards developed countries, and China’s support for developing countries is too small.”
Cover Images via The Straits Times & DW
Author: Jin Wen Chan
Proofreader: Sarah Yeoh
