CN accelerate vaccination, to cover 65% of population by 2021

Chinese disease control and prevention system held a nationwide online meeting on Monday to mobilize the grassroots to accelerate vaccination, with some areas vowing to vaccinate 65 percent of their local people by year-end.

Convened by the Joint Prevention and Control Mechanism of the State Council, China's cabinet, on Monday, the meeting saw the remote participation of national, provincial and municipal officials - and even some government officials and health officials working at township-level government organs and health agencies. 

To reach herd immunity, China's inoculation speed is expected to experience a bell curve, meaning the rate could be slow in the beginning and faster later on, before it drops slowly, said Tao Lina, a Shanghai-based vaccine observer.

The daily inoculation rate nationwide has the potential to peak at about 15 million doses as China is capable of creating a miracle when society pools its strength to prompt mass vaccination, Tao told the Global Times on Monday.

Feng Duojia, president of the China Vaccine Industry Association, suggested that grassroots health agencies should mobilize sufficient manpower at inoculation venues to push forward the campaign, which will undoubtedly pose a huge test for China of a 1.4 billion population.

Under this national vaccination schedule, the Dongtai official said the city would enact a local vaccination plan step by step, using the community grid management policy - a nationwide social governance system in China.

The Dongtai government will make a detailed plan. Subdistrict officials will set up specialized teams to count permanent residents in their districts and make efforts to ease public concerns and raise their willingness to get vaccinated. 

Feng told that the realization of the scheduled target poses difficulties, as no country in the world has had experience in vaccinating so many people in such a short time, but it is still promising for China.

On the basis of guaranteeing export supply, China's annual production capacity can fully meet the demand of the entire country, with annual doses from different vaccine producers adding up to at least 2 billion, Feng said. 

Data showed China is already accelerating its vaccination campaign against COVID-19, with 10 million doses administered in around a week. China had administered 74.96 million vaccine doses as of Saturday, while the number was 64.98 million as of March 14.

Some regions in China have started to vaccinate people aged 60 and above, based on their health conditions under the premise of a full assessment of their health and the risk of infection, and will expand coverage after more efficacy and safety data become available, experts said.

Source:globaltimes

Editor: Crystal H

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