BEIJING: Most people in China are safe from the spread of COVID-19 due to widespread vaccinations and newly gained natural immunity, but uncertainties remain in the long run, according to a senior medical expert.
Some 80 to 90 percent of people in China have acquired herd immunity for COVID-19 in the wake of the spread of Omicron-fueled outbreaks since December, Zeng Guang, former chief epidemiologist at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said in an interview with People’s Daily on Wednesday.
The State-sponsored mass-vaccination campaigns of the last few years have managed to raise vaccination rates against COVID-19 above 90 percent in the country, he told the newspaper.
The combined factors meant that the country’s epidemic situation is safe at least for now. “In the short term, the situation is safe, and the thunderstorm has passed,” said Zeng, who is also a member of the National Health Commission’s expert panel.
However, Zeng added that the country still faces the risk of importing new Omicron lineages such as XBB and BQ.1 and their subvariants, which could pose a great challenge to the unvaccinated elderly population.
The Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention said on Saturday that 3.48 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines had been administered to about 1.31 billion people, with 1.27 billion completing a full course of vaccination and 826 million receiving their first booster.
–The Daily Mail-China Daily news exchange item
