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‘Gao Fu told a conference in Chengdu on Saturday that the country was examining two routes “to solve the problem that the efficacy of its existing vaccines is not high”.’ https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3129053/china-considers-mixing-covid-19-vaccines-offer-more-protection?utm_source=Twitter&utm_medium=share_widget&utm_campaign=3129053
‘Gao previously questioned the safety of mRNA vaccines.’ ‘Chinese state media and popular health and science blogs also have questioned the safety and effectiveness of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.’ https://apnews.com/article/beijing-immunizations-chengdu-coronavirus-pandemic-china-675bcb6b5710c7329823148ffbff6ef9
‘Gao’s remarks, which appeared inadvertent and quickly spread through Chinese social media on Saturday before being mostly censored, marked a departure from the rosy assessments of Chinese-made vaccines by the government.’ https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/china-vaccine-efficacy-not-high-gao/2021/04/11/dafe3ab6-9a8f-11eb-8f0a-3384cf4fb399_story.html
‘Sinovac Biotech Ltd.’s coronavirus vaccine cut in half the risk of developing symptomatic Covid-19 in a key Brazilian study, suggesting two doses of the shot is less potent than some other immunizations designed to tame the ongoing pandemic.’ https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-04-11/sinovac-shot-cuts-risk-of-symptomatic-covid-in-half-in-key-study
‘“Chinese vaccines can provide a certain level of protection, especially for reducing severe disease and deaths, but it’s hard to reach herd immunity,” [HKU virologist] said. “Even if everyone in China takes the vaccines, it can only slow down the spread”’ https://www.ft.com/content/5edb16bf-9da1-48c8-bcd0-9f121f86739a?segmentId=776b81d7-dd92-c731-e669-99cdd37d3a96
Interesting thread, showing how Gao’s widely-reported note of caution on mRNA vaccines were exaggerated by Chinese state-media eager to cast doubt on western efforts and pounced on by foreign media reading too much into them. https://twitter.com/s_rabinovitch/status/1381536348058701826
