Xinhuanet
The WHO said in a statement 11 days ago that the new crown vaccine that has been approved by the World Health Organization is still effective for the drug. However, the new crown vaccine may need to be updated to provide enough protection for people to cope with the current and future variation of COVID-19.
The statement said that the experts of the WHO Technical Advisory Group on the components of the new coronavirus vaccine are currently analyzing the evidence related to the variant strains that “need attention”, and it is possible to modify the recommendations on the components of the new coronavirus strains accordingly. According to the transmission and pathogenicity of variant COVID-19, the World Health Organization lists the variant strains as “need attention” or “need to pay attention”.
The WHO Technical Advisory Group on coronavirus vaccine ingredients was established in September last year and is composed of 18 experts from different disciplines. The expert group issued an interim statement on the 11th, saying that the new coronavirus vaccine, which has obtained the emergency use certification of the who, is still effective for the variant strains that “need attention” such as Omicron, especially for the severe and death of the new coronavirus. But at the same time, experts also emphasized the need to develop vaccines that could better prevent COVID-19 infection and spread in the future.
In addition, with the variation of COVID-19, the components of the new crown vaccine may need to be updated to ensure that the recommended level of protection is provided when facing the infection and disease caused by the strains of the other strains and other possible “concern” variants that may arise in the future.
Specifically, the components of the updated vaccine strains need to be similar to the circulating mutant virus in gene and antigen, which is more effective in preventing infection, and can cause “extensive, strong and lasting” immune response to “reduce the demand for continuous booster needles”.
Who has also proposed a number of options for updating programmes, including the development of monovalent vaccines for major epidemic variant strains, multivalent vaccines containing antigens from a variety of “need to pay attention” variant strains, or long-term vaccines with better sustainability and still effective for different variant strains.
For the Omicron strain currently prevalent in many countries, the expert group calls for more extensive global promotion of complete vaccination and strengthening the vaccination program, hoping to help reduce the emergence of new “need to pay attention” variant strains and reduce their harm.
Post time: Jan-28-2022