China to vaccinate 50 mln people for Lunar New Year - SCMP (updated)

Great Wall Pan Asia Holdings

18/12/2020 05:16

(Adds more details from the report, background)
    Dec 18 (Reuters) - China is planning to vaccinate 50 million
people in the high-priority group against the coronavirus before
the start of the peak Lunar New Year travel season early next
year, the South China Morning Post reported on Friday.
    Beijing is planning to distribute 100 million doses of the
vaccines made by Chinese firms Sinopharm and Sinovac Biotech Ltd
 SVA.O , the report said.
    China has granted emergency-use status to two candidate
vaccines from Sinopharm and one from Sinovac Biotech. It has
approved a fourth, from CanSino Biologics Inc, for military use.
    The SCMP report said Chinese officials have been asked to
complete the first 50 million doses by Jan. 15 and the second by
Feb. 5.
    The mass inoculation for high-priority groups aims to reduce
the risks of the spread of the disease during the annual
week-long holiday, the report added.
    The high-priority group includes health workers, police
officers, firefighters, customs officers, cargo handlers,
transport and logistics workers.
    China's Sichuan province could start vaccinating the elderly
and people with underlying conditions at the beginning of next
month, after it completes inoculations for priority groups,
officials have said.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N2IO2K3

    

 (Reporting by Ann Maria Shibu in Bengaluru; Editing by Aditya
Soni)
 ((AnnMaria.Shibu@thomsonreuters.com; +1 646 223 8780;  + 91 80
6749 2795;))