The vaccine is coming, when will the public be fully vaccinated？

With the coming of winter and spring, the temperature in all parts of China has dropped, and the global epidemic situation is in a high incidence period, so the situation of epidemic prevention and control in China is more severe. In this context, China has carried out Covid-19 vaccination for some key populations on the basis of summing up the experience of the early emergency use trial stage, and will strive to establish group immunity protection through active immunization.

What is the significance of this for the overall prevention and control of the epidemic? When can the public be vaccinated except for key people? Where to vaccinate? What should I do if there is an adverse reaction? On December 19th, the State Council Joint Prevention and Control Mechanism held a press conference on Covid-19 vaccination for key population, and invited experts such as Ceng Yixin, the head of vaccine research and development special class of scientific research group of the State Council Joint Prevention and Control Mechanism and deputy director of the National Health and Wellness Commission, to answer the above questions of public concern.

When can the public be vaccinated except for key populations?

Ceng Yixin introduced that from April 2, 2020, when the first vaccine was approved to enter Phase I and II clinical trials, to June, when three vaccines were approved for emergency use, and then to July, when several vaccines went abroad to carry out Phase III clinical trials, the overall progress of vaccine research and development in China was relatively smooth.

"On the basis of summing up the experience in the early emergency use stage, when the winter and spring season comes, China has carried out vaccination work in Covid-19 for some key people, such as cold chain logistics personnel, customs border inspectors, medical disease control personnel, farmers’ market, seafood market staff and public transport staff. This is of great significance for the prevention and control of epidemic situation in China: it not only protects this part of the population, but also facilitates external defense input and internal defense rebound. " Ceng Yixin said.

"The vaccination of this part of the key population is only the first step of vaccination in Covid-19, China. With the formal approval of the vaccine, the vaccination work will be carried out in an all-round and orderly manner for the elderly and high-risk groups with relatively high risk after infection with basic diseases, as well as the subsequent general population. Strive to establish group immune protection through active immunization, so that the COVID-19 epidemic can be controlled more effectively as soon as possible. " Ceng Yixin stressed.

How to achieve group vaccination? Ceng Yixin said: "Relevant departments and units will effectively control the quality of vaccines, and each batch of vaccines must undergo strict inspection; Ensure safe and smooth cold chain transportation and timely and accurate distribution. All localities should carefully design vaccination programs, organize vaccination work in a safe and orderly manner, especially do a good job in medical security during vaccination, timely disposal of adverse reactions after vaccination and monitoring reports; Do a good job in vaccine science, strengthen citizens’ sense of obligation and responsibility to vaccinate under the premise of informed consent, and strive to make high-risk groups’ take over’, and anyone who meets the conditions can be vaccinated on time. "

How safe is the domestic vaccine?

What is the safety of vaccines in China? Zheng Zhongwei, head of the working group of vaccine research and development special class of the State Council Joint Prevention and Control Mechanism, said that China approved the emergency use of Covid-19 vaccine in June and started the emergency use of Covid-19 vaccine in July. Since the emergency vaccination, up to now, more than 1 million doses have been inoculated, and the overall safety is good after adverse reaction monitoring and follow-up observation.

"Among the vaccinated people, about 60,000 people went to overseas high-risk areas for work reasons, and no reports of serious infections have been received so far. In the same period, phase III clinical trials of vaccines for emergency use were carried out overseas, and up to now, more than 75,000 person-times and about 150,000 doses of vaccines have been inoculated. No serious safety hazards have been found in related studies. It is precisely because of this foundation that we have decided to further carry out the vaccination of Covid-19 vaccine in key populations. " Zheng Zhongwei said.

Many people are worried that virus mutation will affect vaccine efficacy. In this regard, Wang Huaqing, chief expert of immunization program of China CDC, explained: "Virus replication will cause mutation. The World Health Organization (WHO), scientific research institutions and vaccine research and development units all pay attention to virus mutation and carry out related research. The current research shows that Covid-19 mutation has no effect on the existing research and development of vaccines. Some time ago, relevant domestic units used antibodies produced by vaccines to conduct neutralization tests on virus strains from different countries. The results showed that vaccines developed in China can produce good neutralization effects on viruses from different sources. "

So is the vaccine protection efficiency 100%? Do people still need to wear masks after vaccination? Wang Huaqing said frankly: "The vaccine protection efficiency is not 100%, and people still need to wear masks after vaccination. Since the virus was discovered in less than one year, the time for vaccine development is shorter, and how long the vaccine protection can last remains to be followed up. "

What should I do if there are serious adverse reactions after vaccination?

Regarding the public’s concern about adverse reactions after vaccination, Wang Huaqing said that in 2011 and 2014, China passed the WHO’s capacity assessment of adverse reactions monitoring in China’s national vaccine supervision system, and the monitoring indicators of adverse reactions of vaccines met or exceeded the WHO evaluation standards.

Jiao Yahui, inspector of the Medical Administration Hospital Authority of the National Health and Wellness Commission, said that vaccination can protect the body and enhance the body’s resistance to infectious diseases, but individuals may have adverse reactions after vaccination, including general reactions and abnormal reactions; There is also a situation called "coupling reaction", which means that the vaccinator is in the incubation period or precursor period of a certain disease when he is vaccinated, and it happens coincidentally after vaccination, which has nothing to do with the quality of the vaccine and does not belong to the abnormal reaction after vaccination. From the previous stage of vaccination in Covid-19, the adverse reactions after vaccination mainly include fever, headache, local induration, local redness, cough, loss of appetite, vomiting and diarrhea.

Jiao Yahui said, "In order to ensure that adverse reactions of vaccination, especially serious abnormal reactions, can be dealt with in a timely and effective manner, the National Health and Wellness Commission requires all inoculation sites to have both inoculation conditions and treatment needs, and has organized and carried out medical treatment training for adverse reactions of vaccination in Covid-19 for medical personnel all over the country, and made personnel and technical preparations in advance for centralized vaccination work."

Cui Gang, head of the CDC of the National Health and Wellness Commission, said that for vaccinators, they should truthfully inform their health status according to the inquiries of medical staff, and stay at the inoculation point for 30 minutes before leaving. After returning home, you should seek medical attention in time if you have abnormal reaction symptoms.(Reporter Yuan Yufei)