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Gao Fu, the director of the Chinese CDC said that two doses of the Chinese-made COVID-19 vaccines, which are inactivated vaccines, might not induce enough antibodies, and a third dose is needed.

Gao tried to reassure the public about the efficacy of the homegrown vaccines by emphasizing that they can protect the general population against the disease.

Meanwhile, the distributor of China’s Sinopharm vaccine in the United Arab Emirates has started offering a third dose to some people with low immune response. The UAE approved the Sinopharm vaccine last year. Authorities said on March 20 that nearly 56 percent of its adult population has been inoculated with at least one dose of the Chinese vaccine.

The media recently reported that seven people in Hong Kong have died after they were vaccinated with China’s Sinovac vaccine in less than three weeks. But it’s unclear whether the vaccine contributed to the deaths.

A Hong Kong media commentator criticized the government for using its own people as “lab rats” for the Sinovac vaccine.

The efficacy of Chinese vaccines has been questioned due to the lack of transparency in trial data. The phase three clinical trial of the Sinovac vaccine conducted in Brazil in January reported that it was 50.4 percent effective, which is far below the initial claims of the Chinese company that touted a 78 percent efficacy rate.

Lin pointed out that neither the Sinopharm nor the Sinovac vaccines have undergone large-scale clinical trials in mainland China and there is no data about the side effects.