Author: Xu Jing
Why should the elderly be vaccinated against the new crown?
What is the difference between receiving and not receiving vaccination?
Shao Yiming, a member of the expert group for vaccine research and development of the State Council’s Joint Prevention and Control Mechanism Research Team and a researcher at the China Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said today: Only by increasing and strengthening the vaccination rate of the elderly can the death of new coronary pneumonia be greatly reduced.
The new coronavirus vaccine currently used in China has good safety and effectiveness.
Vaccination of the new crown vaccine for the elderly, especially the elderly, is of great significance and effect.
On the 5th, Beijing held a press conference on epidemic prevention and control. The picture shows the scene of the press conference.
Photo by Xu Jing
On the 5th, Beijing held a press conference on epidemic prevention and control. Shao Yiming, a member of the Vaccine R&D Expert Team of the Joint Prevention and Control Mechanism Research Team of the State Council and a researcher from the China Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, mentioned the above content when answering questions from reporters on site.
Why should the elderly be vaccinated against the new crown?
Shao Yiming said that as a new virus, everyone in the world is susceptible to it.
With the repeated epidemics of new coronavirus variants around the world, China’s pressure on "prevention of external import and internal defense of rebound" is increasing, and the risk of infection among the elderly is also increasing.
Data from various countries have continuously confirmed that the risk of severe illness and death in the elderly after being infected with the new crown virus is significantly higher than that of adults and children. The average age of death of new crown patients in all countries is over 70 years old.
Taking the United States as an example, according to public data from the US CDC (U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention), compared with the risk of hospitalization and death for people aged 18-29 years after being infected with the new crown virus as a baseline, the risk of hospitalization for people aged 50-64 has increased 4 times, the risk of death increased by 30 times; the hospitalization risk of people aged 65-74 increased by 5 times, and the risk of death increased 90 times; the risk of hospitalization for people aged 75-84 increased by 9 times, and the risk of death increased by 220 times; The risk of hospitalization for people over 85 years old has increased by 15 times, and the risk of death has increased by 570 times.
The above data shows that the severe cases and deaths that require hospitalization caused by new coronary pneumonia mainly occur in the elderly. Only by increasing and strengthening the vaccination rate of the elderly can the death of new coronary pneumonia be greatly reduced.
The significance and effect of vaccinating the new crown vaccine for the elderly, especially the elderly, is great.
Data map: On March 18, Zhao Degui, a 68-year-old resident of the Foreign Ministry Street community, was vaccinating the new crown vaccine at the vaccination site of Jianguomen Street Sports Center.
Photo by China News Agency reporter Jia Tianyong
How safe and effective is vaccination for the elderly?
According to Shao Yiming, the new coronavirus vaccine currently in use in China, in accordance with relevant approval requirements, has carried out phase I, II, and III clinical trials for the entire population, including the elderly, in accordance with relevant approval requirements. Show that the vaccine has good safety and effectiveness.
At the same time, among the more than 1 billion doses of vaccines in high-endemic countries abroad and more than 2 billion doses in China, a large amount of data shows that the safety of the vaccine is very good, and the side effects in the elderly are slightly lower. Adults.
He said that China's main inactivated and recombinant protein vaccines have low side effects.
For example, the proportion of fever after vaccination is 17.61 per million, which generally does not require treatment; severe allergic reactions are less than one in ten million, and there is no major problem as long as they are treated in time.
In general, the safety indicators of the major new coronavirus vaccines currently vaccinated in China are better than the various vaccines vaccinated in normal years.
In terms of effectiveness, research data at home and abroad proves that vaccines have a significant role in preventing new coronavirus infections, especially severe illness and death.
Statistics from the United States CDC show that compared with people who have not been vaccinated, vaccination can reduce the risk of new coronavirus infection by 5 times, the risk of hospitalization by at least 10 times, and the risk of death by at least 10 times; the Argentine Ministry of Health released a report , The overall mortality protection rate of the two doses of Chinese biological vaccines for people over 60 years old is 84%, of which 80.2% for 60-69 years old, 88.3% for 70-79 years old, and 77.6% for people over 80 years old; July 2021 On the 7th, the "New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM)" published the results of a real-world study of the Beijing Kexing Zhongwei new crown inactivated vaccine carried out in Chile.
The results showed that among the elderly ≥ 60 years of age who completed the full vaccination, the protective effect of symptomatic new coronary cases was 66.6%; for hospitalized cases, 85.3%; for prevention of severe cases, 89.2%, and deaths: 86.5%.
Therefore, in order to achieve the overall epidemic prevention and control goal of reducing infections and deaths, and then protecting the elderly, it is necessary to make up for the shortcomings of the current low vaccination rate of the elderly population, vigorously increase the vaccination rate of the elderly population, and achieve it as soon as possible" It should be exhausted".
Data map: On March 18, two elderly people were watching after being vaccinated in the vaccination spot of the Sports Center in Jianguomen Street, Beijing.
Photo by China News Agency reporter Jia Tianyong
What is the difference between whether the elderly receive the vaccine or not?
Since the beginning of this year, a preliminary analysis of clusters of epidemics spreading in many places in China has shown that the risk of severe illness after being vaccinated by the elderly is significantly lower than that of the unvaccinated elderly.
Shao Yiming said that early clinical trials and real-world studies have shown that the Chinese new coronavirus vaccine has a clear effect on preventing infection, has a significant effect on preventing severe illness and death, and still has a protective effect on the currently circulating delta mutant strain.
Among the clustered epidemics that have spread in many places in China since this year, as of August 25, 2021, a total of 1,388 cases of infection have been reported in Jiangsu Province and other places, all infected with the Delta strain.
According to preliminary analysis, only 5 of the infected persons ≥ 14 days after vaccination developed into severe illness, accounting for about 5% of all severe cases, 97% of severe cases over 60 years old had not been vaccinated or had not completed two doses of vaccination, and were critically ill. None of the patients were vaccinated.
The outbreak in Guangdong Province As of May 2021, a total of 190 local cases have been reported, and the main infection strain is the Delta strain.
A study on the protective effects of vaccines in the Guangdong epidemic led by Academician Zhong Nanshan showed that the two inactivated vaccines, Sinopharm Zhongsheng and Kexing Zhongwei, have a protective effect of 70.2% in the prevention of moderate new coronary pneumonia, and the protective effect of severe cases is up to 100%.
This shows that vaccination has a good protective effect on severe and critical illnesses, which is consistent with the results of previous overseas phase III clinical trials.
Shao Yiming said that the above preliminary analysis of the clustered epidemic situation in many places in China since this year shows that the risk of severe illness after vaccination among the elderly is significantly lower than that of the unvaccinated elderly; even if they become severely ill, they become critically ill and require intubation. The risk of immunization is much lower than that of those who have not been vaccinated; the time required for the transition from severe to mild disease is also much shorter than that of those who have not been vaccinated.