Chinese expert in WHO responds to vaccine trial results in Brazil

01:14

One of China's leading experts on vaccines has spoken to CGTN about the results of China's Sinovac vaccine in Brazil after reports suggest the efficacy rate of the vaccine is a bit over 50 percent.

Shao Yiming, adviser to the Product Development Vaccine Advisory Committee at the World Health Organization (WHO) and chief expert with China's Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said the volunteers in the Sinovac trials in Brazil are all doctors and nurses, who are among the highest risk groups due to extremely high exposure.

The world urgently needs vaccine data for doctors and nurses as they are frontline fighters, he added.

Brazil's Butantan Institute released the final-stage results of the vaccine developed by China's Sinovac Biotech on Wednesday. While it's 100 percent effective in preventing severe and moderate infections, the vaccine has overall efficacy of 50.4 percent.

On Thursday, an international expert team from the WHO arrived in Wuhan to conduct joint research with Chinese scientists.

Shao said despite its aim to trace the potential source of the virus, the priority now is to contain the current pandemic, as origin tracing may take decades. He said after bringing the pandemic under control, scientists and researchers will have time to carry out comprehensive and solid research on origin tracing.