Chilean authorities on Sunday backed the country’s widespread use of the COVID-19 vaccine manufactured by Chinese firm Sinovac after China’s top disease official appeared to make conflicting statements about its efficacy.

Gao Fu, the director of the Chinese Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told a conference in the Chinese city of Chengdu on Saturday that the country was considering mixing COVID-19 vaccines since currently available vaccines “don’t have very high rates of protection.”

He later said in an interview with state media that his comments were “completely misunderstood.”

Available data shows Chinese vaccines lag behind others including Pfizer and Moderna in terms of efficacy, but require less stringent temperature controls during storage.