China disease control experts responded to whether there were adverse reactions to the "old" and "small" vaccinations against the new crown

BEIJING, Dec. 20 (Xinhua) -- As of December 19, 2021, China has reported a cumulative total of 2,684.29 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine, with 1,193.466 million people having completed the full course. Among them, whether an "old" and a "small" group has adverse reactions after vaccination has attracted much attention.

Data chart: On November 30, at the community health service center of Yannan Street, Chengguan District, Lanzhou City, Gansu Province, children were vaccinated against the new crown. At present, the new crown vaccination work for people aged 3 to 11 in Lanzhou is being carried out in an orderly manner. Photo by Gao Zhan, a reporter from China News Service

At the press conference of the joint prevention and control mechanism of the State Council of China on the 20th, Wang Huaqing, chief expert of the immunization program of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said in response to a question that the analysis of the monitoring results of the current abnormal reactions to the suspected vaccination of the new crown virus vaccine in China showed that among the adverse reactions that occurred after the vaccination of the new crown virus vaccine, the general reactions accounted for the majority, mainly for abnormal reactions such as fever and redness and swelling at the vaccination site, induration and other abnormal reactions.

"The incidence of fever, local reactions, and allergic rashes in the elderly is lower than in other populations. As a result, the reported incidence of adverse reactions in older persons aged 60 years and older was slightly lower than in people under 60 years of age. He analyzed that the main reasons for adverse reactions such as fever in the elderly and local redness, swelling and induration at the vaccination site are lower than those of other populations, which are related to the relatively weak response of the elderly, which is similar in previous influenza vaccines.

Wang Huaqing stressed that the elderly have underlying diseases and need to tell the doctor whether they have other serious diseases during the vaccination process. He also said that the follow-up will further strengthen the monitoring of people with underlying diseases to ensure the smooth development of vaccination.

Talking about whether there is an additional risk for the elderly to receive the new crown vaccine booster injection, Wang Huaqing said that from the current monitoring results, "the occurrence of adverse reactions after the intensive injection has not exceeded the past", and "serious adverse reactions are also very rare in the booster needle".

In response to a reporter's inquiry about the vaccination of children aged 3 to 11 years old, Wang Huaqing said that the vaccines currently used urgently in this population include the vaccine of Sinopharm China Biological Beijing Institute, the vaccine of Sinopharm Group China Biological Wuhan Institute and the Beijing Kexing Zhongwei Vaccine. Judging from the results of previous clinical trials, children who received these three vaccines had a high positive conversion rate of neutralizing antibodies, and the antibody levels were comparable to those of adults.

He further pointed out that at present, the number of vaccinations for children aged 3 to 11 in China has exceeded 140 million doses, and from the monitoring results, the adverse reactions are generally stable and there are no abnormalities. Adverse reactions are also the same as in other populations, mainly manifested as fever and local reactions, "the vast majority of which are general reactions".

Wang Huaqing said that the technical guidelines for covid-19 vaccination have made clear provisions for children who cannot be vaccinated. He reminded the recipient or doctor to follow the specific regulations and grasp the safety of vaccination. (End)