China Gets a Single-Dose Vaccine: Here's What You Need To Know

原创 Joey Knotts theBeijinger

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While some foreigners may find themselves frustrated by being placed on the back burner in the wait for a vaccine, the delay will mean that some latecomers will only have to receive a single shot, rather than two separate shots spread out over two to four weeks. That’s due to the approval of the new CanSino vaccine on Feb 25, which has been found to be effective with just a single dose.

The CanSino approval comes on the heels of another new vaccine from Sinopharm Wuhan, which is also a double-dose vaccine that appears to be somewhat more effective than the up-to-now most commonly administered vaccine from Sinovac.

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How is this new vaccine different?

Besides being effective with only one dose, the CanSino vaccine is also China’s first viral vector vaccine. Compared with the Sinovac vaccine and other traditional “inactivated” vaccines, which use an inactivated version of the coronavirus to build immunity, the CanSino vaccine uses a viral vector – an adenovirus – to shuttle a specific protein inside the recipient’s cells, causing the immune system to produce antibodies that would effectively fight off COVID-19.

Will I be able to choose which type of vaccine I get?

For the time being, Beijing residents are not able to choose the type of vaccine they receive. Only a single type of vaccine is available at each administration site in Beijing, and requests to transfer to a different site from the one you are assigned is not allowed.

Do I still have to get COVID-19 tests after getting the vaccine?

According to Beijing Youth Daily, the 12345 hotline advises that you should not expect to be exempt from COVID-19 testing requirements even if you can prove that you have been vaccinated, as none of the vaccines are 100 percent effective. Moreover, it’s not yet known to what extent the vaccines provide full immunity as opposed to symptom reduction, so there is a chance that inoculated individuals may still be capable of spreading infection.