China’s top disease control official has said the efficacy of the country’s Covid vaccines is low, in a rare admission of weakness.
In a press conference, Gao Fu said that China was considering mixing vaccines as a way of boosting efficacy.
China has developed four different vaccines approved for public use, though some trials abroad had suggested efficacy as low as 50%.
Gao later said his comments had been misinterpreted.
More than 100 million people in China have received at least one shot of the vaccine.
Beijing insists the jabs are effective and said it will grant visas only to foreigners with a Chinese shot.
Gao Fu, head of the Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, on Saturday said at a conference the current vaccines “don’t have very high rates of protection”.
He suggested that China was considering mixing Covid-19 vaccines, as a way of boosting efficacy.
Gao explained that steps to “optimize” the vaccine process could include changing the number of doses and the length of time. He also suggested combining different vaccines for the immunization process.
