Sébastien Le Belzic, edited by Solène Delinger
, modified at
9:59 am, December 30, 2021
Faced with the meteoric spread of the Omicron variant, the Chinese strategy of “zero Covid-19” seems increasingly difficult to maintain. Especially since the Chinese Sinovac vaccine is only 35% effective, according to a study published by researchers at the University of Hong Kong.
Does the Sinovac vaccine really protect the Chinese? According to a study published by researchers at the University of Hong Kong, its effectiveness is only 35% with just two doses. An embarrassing figure for China, which has 1.2 billion people vaccinated.
Effectiveness questioned
The effectiveness of Chinese vaccines against the Omicron variant, in particular that of Sinovac, which is one of the most widely used in the world, is called into question by a study published by researchers at the University of Hong Kong. They worked on a group of 25 people who were doubly vaccinated and none of them showed enough antibodies to neutralize the virus.
More research is still being done to see if a third dose would be effective. Sinovac has published its own studies, showing only 35% effectiveness with two doses. A blow for Beijing and its zero Covid strategy. China now has 1.2 billion people vaccinated. “But why?” Ask some Internet users. Messages very quickly censored.
No Pfizer or Moderna
The case is indeed all the more sensitive as Sinovac has delivered more than 800 million doses of its serum to 44 countries. In China, only Chinese vaccines are allowed. There are no messenger RNA vaccines from Pfizer or Moderna yet. No comment either from the Chinese state, which continues to call on the population to give a third injection.