◎Reporter Zhang Jiaxing
At the just-concluded service trade fair, the second-generation new crown vaccine was unveiled.
According to reports, the new-generation COVID-19 vaccine developed by Sinopharm China Biosciences includes not only inactivated vaccines against variant strains, but also broad-spectrum recombinant protein vaccines and self-developed mRNA vaccines.
Why develop a second-generation COVID-19 vaccine?
Does the current generation of vaccines no longer work?
When will the second-generation new crown vaccine be available?
Where are you now?
On September 7, the Joint Prevention and Control Mechanism of the State Council held a press conference. Zheng Zhongwei, the leader of the vaccine research and development team of the scientific research team and director of the Science and Technology Development Center of the National Health Commission, gave an authoritative response to these issues.
Will the first-generation vaccine still work?
The data reported at the press conference showed that as of September 6, a total of 2.113 million doses of new crown virus vaccine were reported nationwide, and the number of people who completed the entire vaccination was 969.72 million.
Children aged 12-17 have received 162.28 million doses.
So, against the mutant strains of the new coronavirus, will the first-generation vaccine still work?
Zheng Zhongwei believes that whether it is effective or not should be proved by real-world research results. He said: my country’s new crown inactivated vaccine has been vaccinated for large populations worldwide, and 2 billion doses have been vaccinated in China. There are a lot of real-world research data.
These research results show that, whether domestic or foreign, China's new crown vaccine has a certain effect on preventing infection; it has a clear effect on re-transmission after infection, and has a significant effect on preventing severe illness and death.
Zheng Zhongwei emphasized: "Even in the case of a widespread epidemic of virus variants, especially Delta strains."
Whether it was the last round of epidemic prevention and control in Beijing or Guangzhou, the effect of vaccination was obvious to all.
The research conducted by the team of Academician Zhong Nanshan on the Guangdong epidemic (infected strains are mainly Delta strains) showed that after two doses of vaccination, the protection effect of the middle disease reached 70%, and the protection effect of the severe disease reached 100%.
Why do we need a second-generation vaccine?
Since the first-generation vaccine is still effective, why should the second-generation vaccine be developed?
"Although the mutation of the new coronavirus is relatively stable so far, there is no fundamental mutation, we still need to take precautions." Zheng Zhongwei said that with preparations, even if the virus mutates severely in the future, it will completely escape the current situation. The preventive effect of the vaccine produced can also be quickly developed and mass-produced new vaccines, so as to be prepared.
A few days ago, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released a new study showing that as the delta variant of the new coronavirus dominates, the effectiveness of the new coronavirus vaccine in the United States has dropped from 91% to 66%.
This real-world research result also makes the development of a broad-spectrum, multivalent second-generation vaccine imminent.
In addition to the early start of vaccine research and development, relevant review and approval systems are also being actively deployed.
According to Zheng Zhongwei, relevant Chinese institutions have also launched the formulation of guidelines for the review and approval of variant vaccines, and made some basic arrangements for the review and approval.
how is the progress?
Regarding the mutant strains of the new coronavirus, each vaccine research and development unit has been carrying out a series of work on the development of vaccines against various mutant strains since the outbreak, especially since the emergence of mutant strains.
According to Zheng Zhongwei, first, my country's vaccine research and development units have carried out research on inactivated vaccines against gamma and delta strains. At present, preclinical studies have been completed, and some units have submitted clinical trial application materials to the Drug Evaluation Center. .
The second is to carry out research on broad-spectrum or multivalent recombinant protein vaccines against different variant strains. Some units have also submitted clinical trial application materials to the Drug Evaluation Center on a rolling basis.
The third is to carry out the research and development of adenovirus vector vaccines and nucleic acid vaccines against beta strains and delta strains. Some units have also completed animal effectiveness and safety experiments and are preparing to apply for clinical trials.