China's COVID-19 Vaccine Trial Volunteers Have High Antibodies 6 Months After Inoculation

Participants in China's COVID-19 vaccine clinical trials retain a relatively high level of antibodies six months after inoculation, Zeng Guang, a leading epidemiologist at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said on Friday

BEIJING (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 25th September, 2020) Participants in China's COVID-19 vaccine clinical trials retain a relatively high level of antibodies six months after inoculation, Zeng Guang, a leading epidemiologist at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said on Friday.

China approved clinical trials of its first coronavirus vaccine on March 16. The vaccine was developed by a team led by Chen Wei, an academician of the academy of Military Medical Sciences, which headed to Wuhan in January to start research.

"At present, there are already relatively positive results, and serological tests show that the level of antibodies in the very first participants in clinical trials of the COVID-19 vaccine in our country is still quite high," Zeng said at a briefing.

According to the researcher, "this indicates that the vaccine may have a fairly long protection period.

"

He at the same time noted that long-term research is needed to determine exactly how long each of the vaccines could protect a person from the virus.

China is currently conducting clinical trials for 11 coronavirus vaccines, four of which are in phase 3, the Health Ministry reported last week.

Wang Junzhi, a member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, said on Friday that the phase 1 and 2 trials have mainly detected minor and admissible side effects.

"Based on the currently available data, there are no signs of antibody-dependent enhancement of the infection as a result of vaccination against COVID-19," Wang said.

Antibody-dependent enhancement is a phenomenon when antibodies aid entry of the virus into host cells, leading to virus replication.