Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, December 25th Question: Who should get the “fourth shot” vaccine? How to fight? ——Experts from the Joint Prevention and Control Mechanism of the State Council Answer Hot Issues on Epidemic Prevention
Xinhua News Agency reporter
Recently, the Comprehensive Team of the Joint Prevention and Control Mechanism of the State Council issued a plan to deploy the second dose of booster immunization. Who should get the “fourth shot” vaccine? What kind of vaccine is the “fourth shot”? Relevant experts from the joint prevention and control mechanism of the State Council responded to social hotspot concerns.
1. Question: Who should receive the second booster dose?
Answer: At this stage, high-risk groups such as the elderly continue to face the risk of being infected. Vaccination is an important measure and means for epidemic prevention and control.
In order to better protect the health and life safety of the people, according to the approval of vaccine research and development and emergency use, high-risk groups of infection, people over 60 years old, people with serious underlying diseases and people with low immunity, after completing the first A second booster dose can be given 6 months after the first booster dose.
2. Question: What is the use of booster immunization now?
Answer: The protective effect of the new coronavirus vaccination mainly includes: the production of antibodies, the production of cellular immunity, and the production of immune memory.
Antibody levels decline over time after vaccination. In addition, as the virus mutates, immune escape is also enhanced, weakening the effect of antibodies. However, cellular immunity plays a more durable role in preventing severe illness and death.
Studies have shown that booster injections can evoke the body’s immune memory cells and increase antibody levels, further consolidating the preventive effect on severe illness and death. As long as the vaccination requirements are met, those who have not completed the booster immunization should complete the booster immunization as soon as possible according to the immunization program to achieve a better protective effect.
3. Question: Which vaccines can be vaccinated for the second dose of booster vaccination?
Answer: At present, all 13 vaccines approved for conditional marketing or emergency use can be used for the second dose of booster immunization. Sequential booster immunization, or the use of vaccines that contain Omicron strain or have good cross-immunity to Omicron strain are recommended first.
Sequential booster immunization refers to the use of vaccines with different technical routes for heterologous booster immunization. If you have received three doses of inactivated vaccines in the early stage, you can choose any of the recombinant protein vaccines, adenovirus vector vaccines or influenza virus vector vaccines during the second dose of booster immunization, which is also the recommended vaccination combination listed by the country.
4. Q: How safe is vaccination?
Answer: The Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention has monitored the adverse reactions of more than 3.4 billion doses and more than 1.3 billion people who have been vaccinated in my country. The incidence of adverse reactions is slightly lower than that of young people.
For the elderly, the “Work Plan for Strengthening the New Coronary Virus Vaccination of the Elderly” clarifies 4 vaccination taboos. If chronic diseases such as diabetes and high blood pressure are in a stable period, they can be vaccinated against the new coronavirus vaccine.
5. Question: Can a second dose of booster vaccination be given if the patient is positive?
Answer: According to the current technical guidelines for vaccination of the new coronavirus, if a person is confirmed to be infected with the new coronavirus, the time of infection and the time of vaccination for the new coronavirus should be separated by more than 6 months.
At present, the immune protection produced by simple infection is not as strong as the mixed immunity produced by infection plus vaccination. If the vaccination interval is met, a second booster dose is recommended.
[Responsible editor: Qi Lei]