Efficacy of Chinese vaccines is “not high”—officials back 3rd dose

Officials in Beijing are reportedly planning to roll out third doses of China’s COVID-19 vaccines. These shots have long been dogged by doubts of their efficacy.

According to a report by The Washington Post, health experts in China say that protection from the vaccines may not last after six months and that people who are at high risk of COVID-19 should get a third dose. Now, state-run media outlets suggest Beijing is on board with the suggestion and is preparing to offer the third doses.

Last week, both the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain said they would offer third doses of China’s Sinopharm vaccine to try to boost protection. UAE is offering the extra shots to anyone who was vaccinated six or more months ago. Bahrain is offering third doses to high-risk groups.

Sinopharm’s COVID-19 vaccine as well as China’s Sinovac vaccine are made with whole, inactivated coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. Inactivated virus vaccines have the advantage of being relatively easy to make. But, they come with the potential drawback of providing weaker protection than more targeted vaccine approaches, such as the mRNA-based vaccines (Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna), which take aim at just one particular key element of the virus: the spike protein.

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