China begins reservation for Covid-19 vaccination

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State-owned China National Pharmaceutical Group, Sinopharm, has launched an online reservation system for people seeking the company’s COVID-19 vaccine in Beijing and Wuhan, Central China’s Hubei Province, local media revealed on Monday.

Students who will travel abroad are among the priority groups being offered the Sinopharm coronavirus shot, according to the reports.

Posts on Chinese social media on Monday indicate Chinese students who are planning to travel abroad from November to January 2021 will be eligible to receive the shot.

More than 70,000 people have made reservations for the COVID-19 vaccine.

“We attach great importance to the students who study aboard, and hope to provide effective, safe and comprehensive insurance in line with the law,” a source close to Sinopharm was quoted on Monday.

Students who study abroad, overseas staff and frontline workers are entitled to “urgent use” of the vaccine.

Sinopharm has not responded to a request for confirmation as of press time on Monday.

“I was informed by the visa agency in mid-September that we can make an appointment for Sinopharm vaccine shots in Beijing,” an employee at an internet company in Beijing said.

“There are two shots, costing 2,600 yuan,” he said, noting that shortly before the National Day holidays he was offered the Sinopharm vaccine.

His job requires him to travel overseas countries, including to India, which currently has the world’s second-highest recorded COVID-19 infections.

“In our trade, you never know when the company needs you out there. You can also go overseas without the vaccine, but that’s another story.

“And taking COVID-19 vaccines needs some time, so I am following the development closely,” the person said.

Though the source close to Sinopharm claimed that there is still no exact timetable for groups taking emergency use vaccines, at the China International Fair for Trade in Services in September, the company has taken “reservations for vaccines.”

The Chinese vaccine developer has two vaccine products that have already entered Phase III trial tests covering sample groups in 125 countries, according to Sinopharm.

In line with the laws and regulations, the company received approval for emergency use of the vaccine on July 22.

Sinopharm had in October said that “hundreds of thousands” of people in China received COVID-19 vaccinations under an emergency use program.

The company said it provided emergency vaccinations to high-risk groups, including medical professionals, diplomats deployed to high-risk areas, and workers for state-owned enterprises who participate in the belt and road initiative.

The company’s General Counsel, Zhou Song Zhou, said that “the vaccines were proven effective” because none of those who traveled to high-risk places after receiving the injections were infected with COVID-19.

The chief biosecurity expert of China’s CDC estimates that members of the public would be able to start taking the vaccine around November or December “as the performance of phase III trials goes well.”

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