“It’s better to be infected once than to be vaccinated”? Authoritative response →

On the afternoon of December 13, the State Council’s Joint Prevention and Control Mechanism held a press conference on the health management of key groups.

The picture shows the press conference site

01

Is it a bit late to get the COVID-19 vaccine now?

It takes shorter time for antibodies to be produced after booster immunization

At the press conference, a reporter pointed out that "some elderly people think it is a bit late to get the new crown vaccine now." Wang Huaqing, chief expert of the immunization program of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said that it does take some time for the vaccine to produce a protective effect.

Generally, after vaccination, the human body produces antibodies in one to two weeks; if a relatively high level of antibodies is to be produced, it will take about four weeks after full immunization. He said that after booster immunization, the time for antibody production is shorter and the level of antibodies produced is higher.

Wang Huaqing called on the elderly who have not completed vaccination to get vaccinated as soon as possible, and those who have not completed booster shots to get booster shots as soon as possible. Only in this case can a better protective effect be played.

02

Does the COVID-19 vaccine have no preventive effect?

The effect of preventing severe illness and death is very significant

A reporter asked that there are some claims now that the COVID-19 vaccine has no preventive effect and cannot prevent repeated infections. Instead, some people believe that it is possible to produce antibodies after being infected once, and that there is no need to get the COVID-19 vaccine.

In this regard, Wang Huaqing said that vaccination can prevent infection, disease, severe illness and death. At present, the effect of the new coronavirus vaccine in preventing infection or disease is not as ideal as we expected, but its effect in preventing severe illness and death is still very significant, which is the main reason why vaccination is being promoted around the world. A large number of monitoring and studies have shown that if you do not get vaccinated, especially among the elderly and those with chronic underlying diseases, the risk of severe illness and death is very high compared to those who have been vaccinated.

The reason why this risk is high is mainly related to not being vaccinated. So in this case, if you complete the full course of vaccination or booster vaccination, this risk will be greatly reduced.

Wang Huaqing suggested that this risk can be reduced through vaccination to protect vulnerable groups, including the elderly and those with underlying diseases.

Source: People's Daily Online