Zhong Nanshan Urges China to Learn mRNA Vaccines

Zhong says China can learn to mix and match vaccines

China's top disease expert says the country needs to learn from the West about advanced mRNA vaccine technology, countries should work together, and explore how to mix and match vaccines.

Respiratory scientist Zhong Nanshan was speaking at the Greater Bay Science Forum in Guangzhou on Saturday.

"We should learn about the good things in other countries, such as mRNA vaccines. They have spent years on the research and managed to develop mRNA vaccines [for the coronavirus] in just a few months," Zhong said.

mRNA vaccines teach immune system to fight virus

"The urgency of the disease has accelerated the work in this regard. We should learn [from other countries] aspects such as the technology and delivery mechanism [of mRNA vaccines]."

China originally had reservations about mRNA vaccines but is now developing its own, though late stage trial data has yet to be released.

There is also no news about whether China's drug regulator will approve the mRNA vaccine by German company BioNTech, which has signed a deal with Fosun Pharma to distribute and produce the jabs for greater China.

"In other countries, there are mRNA vaccines and vectored vaccines and there aren't too many choices. In China, we have protein subunit vaccines [like Sinovac that don't contain live pathogens]. If mixing and matching vaccines can yield better results, then we should not feel uneasy about it. We can run together and work together in this regard," he said.

Over 82 percent of China's population vaccinated

Zhong said international cooperation was also required in other areas, such as tracing the origin of the coronavirus and transmission routes.

This need was highlighted by the emergence of the Omicron variant, and the many unknowns about its behaviour and origin," he said.

So far China has fully vaccinated 1.17 billion people, or 82.5 percent of the population. More than 120 million booster shots have been administered, according to the National Health Commission.