Vaccine research and development should "rather be prepared and not used, never use and not be prepared"
On March 19, the Joint Prevention and Control Mechanism of the State Council held a press conference.
Lei Zhenglong, deputy director of the National Health Commission's Disease Control Bureau and first-level inspector, informed the meeting that since March, my country has reported more than 29,000 cases of new coronary pneumonia, affecting 28 provinces.
Jilin Province has reported more than 10,000 cases cumulatively, and four other provinces have reported more than 1,000 cases.
The local epidemic in my country is still in the developing stage.
Omicron is highly concealed and spreads rapidly, so that the number of cases is still increasing rapidly for several days.
How to find the infected person on the transmission chain faster?
Is there a vaccine for the Omicron variant?
Is the approved new crown "special drug" effective?
Timely, fast and comprehensive are very important
"Missed cases may be the source of a new transmission chain." Wu Zunyou, chief epidemiologist at the China Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said that the discovery of infected people must not only be "timely" but also "all", not only to catch the virus before it spreads It intercepts, but also avoids omissions.
Wu Zunyou introduced that some new technologies have been applied to discover infected persons, such as the use of big data to assist flow investigators to sort out the entire transmission chain, and to maximize the discovery of all possible infected persons on the transmission chain.
In order to achieve the goal of clearing the society, "nucleic acid testing for all employees" is also a very important means.
Wu Zunyou emphasized: When carrying out full-staff testing in a certain local area, it must be completed in a short period of time. It is best to complete a round of testing within 1-3 days. Part of the test cannot be screened and part of the test can be missed. If it can be done in time for all employees Screening, in general, 3-4 rounds of nucleic acid screening can basically achieve zero cases at the social level.
"If there are omissions in each round, there may be seven or eight rounds or 8-10 rounds and there will be social-level infections, so it is very important to be timely, fast and comprehensive." Wu Zunyou said.
Is there a vaccine for the Omicron variant?
"Since the Omicron variant appeared, my country's vaccine research and development team has already taken action." said Zheng Zhongwei, head of the vaccine research and development team of the scientific research team and director of the National Health Commission's Science and Technology Development Center. The basic principle is "It is better to prepare than to use, and never to use and not to prepare."
The study showed that although the Omicron variant had an increased risk of breakthrough infection in vaccinated recipients, it did not have the ability to completely escape existing vaccines.
People who have completed the full course of vaccination can still effectively reduce the risk of hospitalization, severe illness and death caused by the Omicron variant.
Booster vaccination can effectively reduce the risk of breakthrough infection caused by the Omicron variant.
In other words, the original vaccine still works.
So, where is the development of the new crown vaccine?
For the monovalent and multivalent vaccines of Omicron variant strains, those with rapid development progress have already submitted application materials to the State Food and Drug Administration on a rolling basis.
Zheng Zhongwei introduced that monovalent and multivalent research and development of inactivated vaccines have been carried out, preclinical research has been basically completed, and production verification has been carried out; recombinant protein vaccines have carried out Alpha + Beta + Delta + Omicron quadrivalent vaccine research and development, and is applying for overseas clinical trials.
Adenovirus vector vaccines have been optimized for the preparation of vaccine strains, and preclinical studies are being carried out.
mRNA vaccines are also actively advancing preclinical research efforts.
Is the new crown "special drug" effective?
The newly released new coronary pneumonia diagnosis and treatment plan includes two newly approved new coronary drugs into clinical medication. How do they perform in the clinical treatment of existing patients?
Li Xingwang, chief expert of the Infectious Diseases Diagnosis and Research Center of Beijing Ditan Hospital, said that during treatment, it is very important to prevent patients from changing from mild to severe.
"The use of these two drugs is to provide a 'weapon' for treatment that can prevent mild to severe." Li Xingwang said that from the clinical research of these two drugs, they are effective for mild and ordinary patients within 5 days of onset.
After its treatment, it can significantly reduce the hospitalization rate and fatality rate of people who may become critically ill, and this effect is in line with clinical needs.
"I think after these two drugs are included in the diagnosis and treatment plan, doctors can use these drugs, which will play a great role in improving the treatment rate and reducing the fatality rate." Li Xingwang said.