Academician Zhong Nanshan called for vaccines to strengthen the injection and have confidence in achieving herd immunity by the end of the year

Guangzhou, December 11 (China Youth Daily, China Youth Daily reporter Lin Jie) When will China achieve herd immunity to the new crown? Today, at the 2021 Greater Bay Area Science Forum Life Science Sub-Forum, Zhong Nanshan, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, called for vaccination to strengthen the injection, "China's vaccination should achieve theoretical herd immunity, and the vaccination rate should reach 83% of the entire population." At present, 1.15 billion people in China have completed the full vaccination, accounting for 81.9%. I am confident that herd immunity will be achieved by the end of this year. ”

Photo: Gao Hetao

How effective is the domestic vaccine to strengthen the protection of the needle? Zhong Nanshan revealed that from a large number of foreign experiments, the protective effect of domestic vaccines in the real world is 50% to 80%. At present, some laboratory data also found that the antibodies produced by vaccination with xenophants have increased significantly, but the high production of antibodies in the laboratory does not necessarily mean that the defense is strong in the real world.

Academician Zhong Nanshan said that what will happen after the new crown mutant poison strain Aomi Kerong comes out, it is still unclear. Where did this virus come from? Which intermediate host did it come from? How is it passed on to humans? How do aerosols spread? These issues remain to be studied. For the fixed transmission of the new crown epidemic, the early pathological development after infection, and more accurate treatment targets, all interdisciplinary disciplines that carry out research must work together. "Whether it is virus traceability or vaccine research and development, it is urgent for all walks of life at home and abroad to work together." He believes that more in-depth research on vaccines and drugs is still needed, which requires domestic and national efforts in this regard, especially relevant interdisciplinary disciplines.

Zhong Nanshan pointed out that the new crown pneumonia epidemic has been more than two years old, during which genetic research has played an important role. He said that the earliest discovery of the DNA spiral structure was in 1953, which is a historic, subversive and revolutionary discovery. After that, genetic engineering and protein engineering developed rapidly. Through scientific research, humans have finally delineated the human genome and sequence. In vaccine research and development, these have laid a very good scientific and technological foundation for vaccine research and development. In the past two years, science and technology have developed rapidly, and everyone's understanding of the new crown pneumonia epidemic is far more profound than that of SARS.

Zhong Nanshan said that the discovery of the new strain of Aomi Kerong has brought new problems, but many countries attach great importance to it and take strict control measures, which shows that from the practice of fighting the epidemic in the past 2 years, the world has slowly realized that China's approach is right.

"In our country, life is supreme, and remarkable achievements have been made in science and technology and epidemic prevention." Zhong Nanshan pointed out that in 2020, human beings encountered a virus that has never been encountered before, the outbreak of the new crown virus, so far 256 million people have been infected worldwide, more than 5.2 million people have died, and the global death and prevalence rate is very high. However, under the guiding ideology of "life first", China has carried out strict epidemic prevention from top to bottom and achieved remarkable results.

"A corner of uneasiness, the whole world is in danger." Zhong Nanshan said: The whole world should strengthen cooperation. Whether it is the traceability of the virus or the prevention and control of the epidemic, it requires joint efforts at home and abroad. He called on mankind to work together to face the "enemy" of the new crown virus and rely on science and technology to solve problems.

Source: China Youth Daily client