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CNN: Vaccinated people getting COVID-19 doesn't mean failure for Chinese jabs
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A citizen over 60 receives a COVID-19 vaccine in Foshan, Guangdong Province, July 5. /CFP

A citizen over 60 receives a COVID-19 vaccine in Foshan, Guangdong Province, July 5. /CFP

Chinese COVID-19 vaccines haven't failed in the fight against the virus, CNN reported on Saturday, despite some Western media outlets blamed rising COVID-19 cases in some countries on Chinese vaccines.

Countries including Mongolia, Seychelles and Chile have reportedly fully inoculated over 50 percent of their respective populations, largely with Chinese vaccines, yet new COVID-19 cases are increasing.

But in fact, the new infections are largely among unvaccinated people, CNN reported. According to Chile's Ministry of Health, 73 percent of COVID-19 cases in intensive care units between June 17 and 23 were not fully vaccinated.

Similarly, in Seychelles, the health ministry said in a Facebook post last month that only three out of 63 people who died at the time from COVID-19 had completed vaccination with two doses and noted Chinese vaccine Sinopharm is used in adults under 60 rather than a wider group.

In Mongolia, 96 percent of COVID-19 deaths were among people who were not vaccinated at all or had just one dose. Among all the COVID-19 cases, only one fifth had been fully vaccinated.

"If we want to bring down the severe cases [and] the number of deaths, the Sinopharm, Sinovac can help," said Jin Dong-yan, a professor in molecular virology at the University of Hong Kong told CNN.

Ben Cowling, a professor of infectious disease epidemiology at the same university said the Chinese vaccines are effective in limiting the number of serious infections and deaths, according to CNN. "I think the vaccines are certainly working and they're certainly saving a lot of lives," he said. 

Odgerel Chuluunbat, a fully vaccinated business owner in Mongolia who later tested positive of COVID-19 and recovered at home, told CNN she believed her situation would have been worse without the Sinopharm vaccine.

Enkhsaikhan Lkhagvasuren, the Mongolian ministry of health's head of public health policy implementation, said to CNN: "We cannot differentiate between COVID-19 vaccines, saying this one is bad or that one is good. All of the available vaccines reduce the risk of severe illness."  

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