Should governments rethink their coronavirus vaccine rollouts?

Many coronavirus vaccines are facing setbacks, from low rates of efficacy to concerns over blood clots.

China’s top health official has admitted domestically produced jabs have low rates of protection.

Gao Fu said his country is considering options to boost the effectiveness of doses including mixing different brands.

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His comments come as side effects from other COVID-19 vaccines have slowed vaccination drives elsewhere.

The United States has recommended “pausing” the use of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine following reports of blood clots, while AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine is being investigated by European regulators for similar cases.

Meanwhile, a new Israeli study has found the coronavirus variant discovered in South Africa can penetrate Pfizer-BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine to some extent.

So, what do these developments mean for vaccination drives worldwide?

Presenter: Dareen Abughaida

Guests:

Patrick Tang – Division chief of microbiology at Sidra Medicine

Regina Osih – Medical doctor and infectious diseases specialist at The Aurum Institute

Jeffrey Lazarus – Head of Health Systems Research Group at Barcelona Institute for Global Health