Fauci called the poor job of vaccinating the elderly

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, testifies at Senate Subcommittee Hearing on Appropriations for Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies to Discuss President Biden’s Fiscal Year 2023 Budget Request for the National Institutes of Health at the Capitol hill in Washington, May 17, 2022.

Anna Rose Leiden | swimming pool | Reuters

Dr. Anthony Fauci, a leading U.S. infectious disease expert, criticized China’s Covid lockdowns as “draconian” and said the Beijing government should focus on vaccinating the elderly.

“Vaccination of older people was not done properly and the vaccine they brought in was not particularly effective,” Fauci told The Washington Post on Thursday as he prepares to step down as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Allergy. Infectious diseases at the end of this month.

Fauci said the lockdowns are only justified as a temporary measure that serves a broader public health goal of making the community safer when it reopens. But strict control of Covid in China does not appear to have an end goal, he said.

“If there was any advice, it is quite simple, and it comes not only from me – it comes from any number of people involved in this outbreak: do everything possible to ensure that your people are vaccinated and boosted with a highly effective vaccine,” Fauci said. , which has many years of experience in responding to infectious diseases, from the HIV pandemic to the emergence of Ebola.

Anti-Covid protests in China erupt again amid lockdown tensions

Rare protests broke out in China over the weekend against Covid lockdowns and strict quarantine procedures. While much of the world relies on vaccines to prevent serious illness so society can return to normal despite the continued circulation of the virus, China has introduced a zero Covid policy aimed at suppressing outbreaks.

China uses the domestic CoronaVac vaccine produced by Sinovac. Vaccines contain a killed virus that triggers an immune response. Beijing has not approved messenger RNA vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna.

“The performance of Chinese-made vaccines is not up to par with vaccines that have been used in the United States, especially Moderna and Pfizer mRNA vaccines,” Fauci said.

A man walks past a sign encouraging older people to get vaccinated against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outside a residential complex in Beijing, China, March 30, 2022. The picture was taken on March 30, 2022.

Tingshu Wang | Reuters

According to the World Health Organization, data on the effectiveness of Sinovac-CoronaVac against the omicron variant is limited. Omicron has evolved into increasingly immune-evading sub-options that have undermined the effectiveness of all Covid vaccines.

Hong Kong scientists in a study published in the Lancet Infectious Diseases.found that two doses of CoronaVac were approximately 58% effective in preventing severe illness or death in people aged 80 and older during the BA.2 omicron wave from December 2021 to March 2022. Two doses of the Pfizer vaccine were 87% effective in preventing severe illness. illness or death in this age group, according to the study.

People aged 80 and older who received three doses of CoronaVac had a 97% protection against severe illness and death. According to the study, this is equivalent to 97% of the protection provided by three doses of Pfizer.

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The Chinese Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in a September report that the vaccination rate for older people in China is lower than in other countries because older people are skeptical about a domestically developed vaccine.

According to the report, the clinical trials of the Chinese vaccine did not include enough adults aged 60 and over, so there is insufficient data on its safety and efficacy in this age group.

The vaccination campaign in China began with people in important positions, followed by adults aged 18 to 59, and only later opened up to the elderly.

Chinese officials on Tuesday announced 66% of adults over 80 received a booster shot, up from 40% as of November. eleven

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