Compared with the rest of the world, China has not experienced a large-scale wave of changes in the new crown epidemic recently, but the prevention and control of the new crown has not been relaxed, and the news related to the new crown has always been the focus of our attention.
Just this afternoon, an official news of COVID-19 vaccination sparked heated discussions: China's COVID-19 vaccination route has changed, and a new heterologous sequence has strengthened the implementation of immunization deployment.
Image source: China News Network @ Weibo
What is sequential vaccination? Why is there more of this vaccination method? How to get the COVID-19 vaccine later?
Sequential vaccination, that is, "alternating vaccination"
Sequential is a common medical term. Simple understanding is to alternately do something. For example, the sequential therapy of Helicobacter pylori treatment is to take these drugs in the first few days and take several other drugs in the next few days.
The "heterologous sequence strengthening" of the new crown vaccine is that when the new crown vaccine is injected, the vaccine can be alternately vaccinated with different technical routes.
Before the implementation of the sequential vaccination deployment, we go to the new crown vaccine, which can be different manufacturers, but it must be the same technical route. For example, if the first injection is vaccinated with Kexing's inactivated new crown vaccine, the second and reinforced injections must be inactivated vaccines, which can be Kexing, or Beijing Biologics and Wuhan Biologics of Sinopharm.
This is the traditional homology inoculation, homologous strengthening.
With sequential vaccination, the basic vaccination must be homologous, inactivated is inactivated, but when the third shot is strengthened, you can choose other routes of vaccines listed in China, such as CanSino's adenovirus vector new crown vaccine, or Zhifei's recombinant protein new crown vaccine.
It's like having a different choice.
Why one more sequential choice?
Because in the face of changing viruses, sequential vaccination is a potentially immune-enhancing approach.
This conclusion has been validated in other vaccines, and A+B is better than A alone. In the face of COVID-19, there have also been some preliminary studies showing that sequential vaccination may be more durable than single homologous vaccination.
For example, research data show that 3 to 6 months after receiving 2 doses of inactivated vaccine, sequential enhancement of 1 dose of adenovirus vector vaccine, neutralizing antibody levels are 5 times higher than those of inactivated vaccine homologous enhancement. There have also been studies of inactivated vaccines + recombinant protein vaccines that are safe and highly immunogenic to adults.
How exactly should I be vaccinated?
Studies of sequential inoculation being better than homologous inoculation are still preliminary, and it can only be said that it is possible to be better than existing protocols. Therefore, after obtaining safety data at the same time, the current plan promoted by the mainland is that when strengthening vaccination, you can choose one of the two, which can be either the original homologous vaccination or the new sequential vaccination.
If you have now completed the original homologous vaccination booster, you do not need to consider sequential vaccination at this time, if you are preparing to go to the vaccination booster, you can choose sequential or homologous vaccination according to the local deployment situation.
Speak with a diagram:
Vaccination is certainly not static, and it is necessary to make timely adjustments according to the situation of the opponent, perhaps the vaccination method, perhaps more vaccine technology routes. After all, the battle between human beings and viruses has always been a story of one foot high, one foot high, and ten feet high.
Whether it is homologous or sequential, vaccination is a protection of oneself and society. People who hope to meet the vaccination conditions can take the initiative to vaccinate and vaccinate early, increase health, and fuel epidemic prevention.
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