A mainland infectious disease expert said on Monday that the Covid-19 vaccination rate among the elderly across the border is still unsatisfactory.

Lu Hongzhou, president of Shenzhen Third People’s Hospital and a member of the National Health Commission’s expert panel on disease prevention and control, noted many elderly people on the mainland had received only one or two shots quite a while ago.

“We can see that many patients who became seriously ill or faced life-threatening conditions had not been properly vaccinated. They did not receive any vaccines in the past six months to three years, or they were not fully vaccinated. Many just received one or two shots, and it was before the end of 2021,” he said.

Lu also said the protection of vaccines currently available does not last very long.

The expert called on people to receive a booster every year and administer a nose spray vaccine at home every six months.