[China’s target of vaccinating 50 million people in a month is an ambitious goal, more than the populations of California and Michigan combined. In the United States, where the Trump administration has touted its Operation Warp Speed to fast-track delivery of vaccines, 4.2 million people have received a first dose since distribution began Dec. 14, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Covid Data Tracker.]
Workers in a range of industries
will receive their first of two vaccine shots by the middle of this month, with
the next shot coming two to four weeks afterward, according to the national
plan. The nine prioritized groups include health sector workers, delivery
workers, people whose jobs require overseas travel, public servants and utilities
employees.
China’s target of vaccinating
50 million people in a month is an ambitious goal, more than the
populations of California and Michigan combined. In the United States, where
the Trump administration has touted its Operation Warp Speed to fast-track
delivery of vaccines, 4.2 million people have received a first dose since
distribution began Dec. 14, according to the Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention’s Covid Data Tracker.
There’s urgency to complete these
vaccinations before the Lunar New Year holiday period — often called the
world’s largest annual human migration — which takes place Feb. 11-17. Last
year, some 1.5 billion trips were made over the holiday in China, half the
normal number, as people sheltered in place against the growing coronavirus outbreak.
[China
approves Sinopharm coronavirus vaccine, the country’s first for general use]
After reunion plans were scuttled
for many families last year, there is pressure on Chinese authorities to make
the country safer for holiday travel this time around. For many in China who
work far from home, Lunar New Year is the only time they can gather with their
families for celebration and feasting.
“We can’t require people to stay at
home and not go out during Lunar New Year,” Shanghai infectious-disease expert
Zhang Wenhong was quoted saying in the official People’s Daily on Saturday,
even as he said controls may be necessary in higher-risk areas.
Millions in priority groups had
received shots as part of an earlier “urgent use” push, before regulators gave the green light to a vaccine from
Sinopharm, a state-owned drugmaker, last week. Now, vaccine doses are being
rolled out by municipal authorities to all prioritized workers willing to take
them, and they should begin to reach some other demographics by next month.
China’s approval of Sinopharm’s
vaccine has given confidence to other countries. Egypt said Saturday it had approved Sinopharm’s vaccine for
emergency use, while a Pakistani minister said the country would purchase 1.2 million doses
from Sinopharm.
However, Sinopharm has also come
under criticism for lack of transparency, with scant detail released about its
Phase 3 clinical trials. Wu Yonglin, the president of the Sinopharm unit that
developed the vaccine, has said that the company will provide detailed data
after more observation.
Within China, state media on Monday
was awash with reports of the vaccination drive. In the capital city, Beijing,
municipal officials reported that 73,537 people received their first vaccine
dose in the first two days of the new year.
State broadcaster CCTV showed
footage of people standing in line over the weekend at pop-up vaccination sites
in Beijing and sitting in socially distanced seats afterward for monitoring for
any adverse symptoms. The broadcaster said there were more than 200 vaccination
sites in the capital.
[As
the world awaits a coronavirus vaccine, some in China get early doses]
Other cities across the country
have also announced drives to vaccinate front-line workers over the past two
weeks.
Health Times, a state-run
newspaper, quoted vaccine expert Tao Lina last month as saying the government
planned to vaccinate 50 million people by Lunar New Year, with the first
shot by Jan. 15 and second shot by Feb. 5.
Front-line workers eligible for
this round of vaccinations include those ages 18 to 59 employed in ports,
delivery companies, the transportation industry, health and sanitation, public
servants, police and firefighters, utilities, elder care, telecommunications,
and people whose work or studies takes them overseas.
Besides the vaccine push, officials
have issued some restrictions for the Lunar New Year holiday
to try to prevent another surge in coronavirus cases. Several cities limited
the size of gatherings to 10 people. Chinese Communist Party members in Beijing
have been ordered not to leave the city without permission.
These restrictions are mild
compared with last year’s Lunar New Year season, when authorities put swaths of
China under lockdown to try to control the rapidly spreading virus. Wuhan,
where the virus emerged in late 2019, was sealed off from the rest of the
country for more than two months. In many other cities, residents were
prevented from leaving their homes without an approved reason.
Alicia Chen in Taipei, Taiwan, and
Lyric Li in Beijing contributed to this report.
Read More
China
approves Sinopharm coronavirus vaccine, the country’s first for general use
As
the world awaits a coronavirus vaccine, some in China get early doses
The
global race for a coronavirus vaccine could lead to this generation’s Sputnik
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