FULL vaccination helped slow down the spread of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that caused COVID-19 pandemic, Zhang Wenhong, head of Shanghai’s anti-COVID-19 clinical expert team, said yesterday at a press conference on COVID-19 in Shanghai.

“Among all vaccines, there is none that can prevent infection for 100 percent,” said Zhang. “It is inevitable that some high-risk groups who have received the COVID-19 shots get infected. That’s what we called the protective efficacy of the vaccine.”

So far, more than 3 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered worldwide, and breakthrough infections – the infections after vaccination – have been very rare, the expert said.

What’s more important, as Zhang noted, is that without vaccination, cases would spread very rapidly. While this time, none of the close contacts were tested positive after the first round of screening.

“That shows if those who have contacts with the confirmed cases get fully vaccinated, the spread of the virus will slow down dramatically,” said Zhang.

He added the vaccination rate of people over 18 years of age in Shanghai has reached 85 percent and that of the staff at the airport reached 100 percent. With the wide vaccination, he believed the spread of the virus can be controlled in a short time.

Shanghai listed a residential compound in Pudong New Area as medium-risk area yesterday after a COVID-19 case was reported in the area Monday.

The patient, who has been vaccinated, is a cargo service staffer in Shanghai Pudong International Airport. So far, no positive cases were found after testing the patient’s close contacts.

Zhang called on people to keep practicing personal hygiene and social distancing besides vaccination.

More than 1.66 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines had been administered across China by Sunday.

As of Monday, Shanghai had administered more than 38.1 million doses with over 18.7 million people fully vaccinated. (CGTN)