island shows signs of cooling down, new variants including BQ.1 and XBB have emerged internationally, which may cause another wave of epidemics. Some doctors pointed out that the next-generation vaccine may have been unable to catch up with the virus mutation, and the fourth dose of BA.5 vaccine is useless.
In response, Luo Yijun, deputy head of the medical response team of the Taiwan Epidemic Command Center, said that some cases of breakthrough infection may occur in mild infections, but the preliminary assessment of severe protection will not be affected.
According to Taiwan's "United Daily News", Luo Yijun said at the epidemic prevention press conference that at present, pharmaceutical companies will obtain the cultured virus for the new mutant strains, and conduct further tests to see if they can develop a more effective vaccine against the new mutant strains. . Such research and development should not stop. For example, influenza vaccines need to update virus codes and vaccine strains every year or every time.
He also said that for the BA.1 or BA.5 next-generation vaccine, several recent studies have tested the new variant strain XBB or BQ.1. From the perspective of neutralizing antibody titers, due to the strong immune escape characteristics of these two new variants, even the latest next-generation vaccine, the neutralizing antibody has decreased significantly, but the titer of the BA.5 next-generation vaccine seems to be Still slightly higher than BA.1 or the original strain vaccine.
Luo Yijun said that the mild infection may result in a breakthrough infection due to immune escape, but the preliminary assessment of the protection of severe cases will not be affected. At present, the main purpose of adding the next-generation vaccine is to prevent severe disease and death, and it can also increase the protective effect against mild disease. It is not recommended to vaccinate because of the result of neutralizing antibodies.
Therefore, on the whole, it is still recommended that people who meet the time of vaccination of the next-generation vaccine should vaccinate the next-generation vaccine as soon as possible to increase the protection effect of mild and severe cases. In addition, the study also mentioned that vaccination can also maintain a certain degree of T-cell immunity, which can maintain the effect of preventing severe diseases. (Xue Yang/Editor)
