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Reuters, Beijing, March 1: Humans may never be able to completely eliminate the new corona virus, and perhaps every year in the future, the new corona vaccine will be vaccinated. If we want to return to normal social order, accelerating vaccination globally is the top priority. However, global development is uneven and current vaccination is even more uneven. To avoid further division of the world, Chinese and American experts call for the world’s two largest economies, China and the United States, to work together. strengthen epidemic prevention and control and cooperation on vaccines.
According to experts attending the China-US Epidemic Prevention and Cooperation Forum jointly organized by China Tsinghua University and the Brookings Institution on Monday night, the current vaccination rate in some developed economies such as the United States and the United Kingdom is very important. The United States may be in the second quarter of this year. Herd immunity can be achieved, and China’s goal is to reach a 40% vaccination rate by the end of June, which is a long way to go.
“It takes two to three years for the world’s population to achieve herd immunity, and it may even take longer,” said Zhong Nanshan, leader of an expert group at the China National Health Commission. It’s possible. The more people get better. The longer vaccination takes, the more mutated strains are more likely. “
He believes that it is necessary to accelerate vaccine production and prepare new vaccines against some new strains. “Will the new epidemic crown turn into the flu? Maybe we need to get vaccinated every year? Nobody knows, I don’t.” Get to know it. Will it really turn into a flu-related illness? This is also possible. As long as a vaccine can be developed, including new strains and new vaccines to deal with, we can live normally. “
However, Gao Fu, director of the China Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, is more optimistic. He believes that as long as large cities can wear masks, wash their hands frequently and maintain social distancing, the growth in the number of confirmed diagnoses in the world will slow down rapidly. In addition, more and more people will be vaccinated and the virus may also be possible. It will gradually weaken and so on.
“I think we can never go back to normal, but we will get into a state pretty close to normal before, and maybe we should be able to get to that stage next summer,” he said.
** Accelerate vaccination, and China aims to hit 40% by the end of June **
According to Zhong Nanshan, from the perspective of vaccination rates, Israel currently has 92.46%, Saudi Arabia and the United Kingdom are 60.82% and 30.13%, the United States is 22% and China is 3 , 56%.
“We asked the CDC (China Centers for Disease Control) and they said China’s vaccination goal is to reach 40% by the end of June, but it may not be enough to achieve herd immunity at that time,” He said.
Zhang Wenhong, professor and director of the Shanghai Huashan Hospital Infectious Diseases Department and leader of the Shanghai New Coronary Pneumonia Medical Treatment Expert Group, said that China’s vaccine production is sufficient and production is expected to reach 30,000. 2.1 billion doses by the end of 2021, so the degree of adequacy of the vaccine Don’t worry, the biggest concern is the speed and effectiveness of vaccination.
He noted that if 10 million doses are vaccinated every day, it will take seven months to vaccinate 70% of the population. If the goal is to reach 40% in June, it is actually a very difficult task, equivalent to 5 million doses of vaccination a day.
“The other is the ‘immunological gap’ between China and the world. If other countries in the world are not well immunized, China will always be exposed to this risk and will always be affected by imported cases. Therefore, the current efforts of China hopes to better carry out global and balanced efforts against the epidemic through global cooperation such as COVAX or other frameworks, “he noted.
** Strengthen China-US anti-epidemic cooperation **
John R. Allen, president of the Brookings Institution, said: “The new president of the United States has made it very clear that for this administration, better control of the epidemic is the top priority of the government’s work program. No country can deliver. this task independently.. We must cooperate to achieve it. “
He said: “If the two countries of China and the United States do not work together, the whole world will be more divided as a result and our strength will be weaker.”
Gao Fu also pointed out that China and the United States may encounter some problems in many respects, but they must seek common ground while preserving differences and find projects that are easy to cooperate, such as public health and vaccines. China and the United States need competition and cooperation, as well as communication and coordination. The United States must work together to support COVAX, and the development of countries around the world is uneven. China and the United States must work together to improve this equality.
Indeed, China’s State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi recently called on the new US government to promote a return to rationality in its policy towards China. He believes that, in the current situation, the two parties can actively interact and accumulate goodwill from difficult to difficult.
“I think legislators around the world should make decisions based on science rather than politics. As long as we can make decisions based on science rather than politics, the situation will be better,” said Zhong Nanshan.
There was a question on the forum: “If you could meet with the leaders of China and the United States, what advice would you give?” In response, Wu Zunyou, chief epidemiologist at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said that the promotion of vaccines in the United States is very fast, more than 20%, said to reach 80% in June, and it can reach 90% in August, and herd immunity can be achieved.
“If this is the case, if political obstacles to the movement of people between the two countries are removed, these two countries may be the first two countries in the world to remove obstacles to international travel. We hope we can do our best. greater strength to achieve it, “he said.
“We are facing a fragile situation until the world’s population is vaccinated,” said W. Ian Lipkin, director of the Center for Infection and Immunity at the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University. It is not about scientific research and technology, but about mutual respect. mutual trust and international cooperation. “The new corona virus will not be the last challenge we face. There are other major challenges such as climate change and food security.” (The end)
