Foreigners Can Get COVID-19 Vaccine in Zhejiang
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• On October 16, 2020, according to the Zhejiang Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention, people in two cities of Zhejiang, Jiaxing and Yiwu, can be vaccinated against COVID-19, and foreigners in China can get vaccinated in Yiwu.
• The pilot scheme in Zhejiang is offering injections through the local centre for disease control.
• Vaccines are still undergoing clinical trials but essential workers and others will be able to receive the jabs on an ‘emergency’ basis this winter. Later for the general public aged between 18 and 59.
Key Protected Targets
Zhejiang province in eastern China has started a COVID-19 inoculation programme in an apparent pilot scheme for the whole country. With the vaccines still in the final stage of human trials, Zhejiang has approved the “emergency use” of the vaccine for autumn and winter, Chen Guangsheng, vice secretary-general of the provincial government, said on Friday.
China first approved the emergency use of coronavirus vaccines in June. As of September, more than 350,000 people had been given the injections and none had suffered severe side effects, Science and Technology Daily reported last month. But Zhejiang is the first place to start offering vaccinations through the local centre for disease control and prevention (CDC), the usual network for inoculations.
“The vaccine candidates made by Chinese pharmaceutical companies have entered phase III clinical trials. Their safety and efficacy are up to the expected standards. Zhejiang has evaluated the epidemic situation of the upcoming autumn and winter and has made plans for the emergency use of the coronavirus shots,” Chen said. He added that the priority would be given to “key populations” and residents of areas hit by outbreaks.
The first people to be vaccinated will be “key protected targets”, a category that includes medical workers, disease control and prevention staff, customs and border control staff and people working at quarantine centres.
Slowly available to the General Public
The next group will include essential workers, public servants, staff at “special venues” and people going on business trips overseas. After this, the vaccine will be made available to members of the general public aged between 18 and 59. The vaccine will cost 400RMB (just under US$60) and will consist of two separate injections, given two to four weeks apart.
Zhejiang CDC has bought the vaccines from the Beijing-based pharmaceutical company Sinovac and will distribute the shots to community health centres across the province, according to a statement from the local CDC in Jiaxing city.
“We have not started to give inoculations yet. I have not seen the vaccine myself and I only know that it has been distributed from the higher authorities,” an unidentified worker at Jiaxing CDC told news portal Thepaper.cn. However, a worker at the CDC branch in Haiyan county said it was not guaranteed that there were enough stocks to give the injections to everybody who wanted them.
Tao Lina, a Shanghai-based vaccine expert, said many of those who had received the vaccines so far had received them through channels that the public did not know about. “To my knowledge, this is the first time that coronavirus vaccines have been distributed through the CDC network,” Tao said. “I guess that Zhejiang’s inoculation programme is a pilot for the state authorities before rolling out the vaccine injections across the country.”
In an interview with the state broadcaster CCTV last month, Wu Guizhen, the chief biosafety expert at the national CDC, said ordinary people would have access to locally developed coronavirus vaccines as early as November or December.
But Tao said he did not think most people in China would receive the vaccine. “People have low willingness to be inoculated thanks to China’s outstanding work in curbing the epidemic. Besides, the Chinese public generally don’t trust vaccines,” he said.
Last week, the State-owned China National Biotec Group said it would give students studying overseas its experimental COVID-19 vaccine for free.
Details about the Vaccine
Per Zhejiang CDC, below are the details about this vaccine against COVID-19, including the age limit for vaccine recipients, the total inoculating times and the cost.
Age limit for vaccine recipients:
From 18 to 59 years old;
Inoculating times:
Two times in all, with an interval of 14 to 28 days, and the recommended interval is 28 days;
Price:
200RMB/ dose, the total cost is 400RMB.
Yiwu: First-come, First-served
Although the new vaccine is available in both Jiaxing and Yiwu, it is not targeted at the same population.
As per the Yiwu Center for Disease Control and Prevention, as of now, the vaccine is currently only available in the Community Health Service Center of Jiangdong Street, and on a first-come, first-served basis.
Foreigners can queue to register with valid original passport and local green health code. Most importantly, no appointment is needed.
Where and When
Community Health Service Center of Jiangdong Street (义乌江东街道社区卫生服务中心)
No. 369, Hexin Road, Nanshan comprehensive market, Jiangdong Street, Yiwu City.
Monday to Friday, 8:00-17:30.
Furthermore, the total doses of vaccines in Yiwu is only 500-600, which means about 250-300 people will be vaccinated. All those who want to be vaccinated should queue up, as soon as possible. As for other communities in Yiwu, emergency preparations for vaccines are also in progress, the staff added.
Yiwu: Four Categories of Personnel
While per the Jiaxing Center for Disease Control and Prevention, the vaccines are still provided for the following four categories of personnel, namely:
-Staff working on the medical institutions;
-Staff of the CDC;
-Staff of port quarantine and frontier inspection institutions;
-Staff associated with the centralized isolation point.
It is worth noticing that Jiaxing will steadily carry out the appointment and arrangement of vaccination for general objects according to the follow-up vaccine supply, and the vaccination point shall be in accordance with the principle of proximity.
According to the staff of the Zhejiang CDC, the vaccination is still not recommended for the general population currently, unless there is a special need, such as going abroad.
Sources: South China Morning Post, OneTubeDaily.
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