China offers coronavirus vaccine candidates to aviation industry workers - notice

TravelSky Technology

03/09/2020 06:52

BEIJING, Sept 3 (Reuters) - China has offered experimental
coronavirus vaccines to aviation industry workers, according to
a regulatory notice seen by Reuters, in a push to inoculate
high-risk groups to prevent a possible resurgence as economies
reopen.
    China, which has four COVID-19 vaccines in the final stage
of human trials, launched the emergency use vaccine programme in
July, hoping to boost the immunity of groups such as border
inspectors or medical industry workers.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N2FO04J
    Frontline workers at Chinese airlines, airports, China
National Aviation Fuel Group and TravelSky Technology Limited
 0696.HK  will be provided a candidate vaccine on a voluntary
basis, the notice from China's aviation regulator shows.
    The Civil Aviation Administration of China has asked these
sectors and firms to compile a list of personal information of
employees willing to take the vaccine, the notice adds.   
    The vaccination is "in response to a possible second wave of
infections erupting in the fall and winter, and to the huge
pressure facing our work of preventing imported cases as western
countries reopen despite the pandemic", according to the notice.
    While the regulator did not immediately respond to a Reuters
request for comment, several staffers at Air China  601111.SS ,
China Southern Airlines  600029.SS  and Juneyao Airlines
 603885.SS  confirmed they had received such a notice.
    Juneyao said it had submitted a list of employees willing to
take the vaccine. The other airlines did not immediately reply
to requests for comments. 
    It is not clear yet which candidate vaccine will be given
and how many people will be vaccinated.  
    At least two experimental vaccines, one from Sinovac Biotech
Ltd  SVA.O  and the other from China National Biotec Group, have
been approved for emergency use in China. 
    No vaccine has yet passed final, large-scale trials to prove
it is effective enough to protect people from contracting the
virus that has led to over 860,000 deaths globally.

 (Reporting by Stella Qiu, Roxanne Liu and Miyoung Kim; Editing
by Himani Sarkar)
 ((yifan.qiu@thomsonreuters.com; 86-10-66271289;))