China is aiming to vaccinate 70-80% of its population by mid-2022, the head of the country’s Center for Disease Control said this weekend.
With four approved vaccines, China will vaccinate 900 million to 1 billion people, Gao Fu, the CDC head, said in an interview with Chinese state media broadcaster CGTN. “We hope that China can take the lead in achieving herd immunity in the world,” he said.
Herd immunity occurs when enough of the population has immunity, either from vaccination or past infection, to stop the uncontrolled spread of an infectious disease like COVID-19.
China had administered 52.5 million vaccine doses through the end of February. It has been slower in its vaccination campaign than many other countries, including the U.S., government health experts have acknowledged. China has committed roughly 10 times more doses abroad than it has distributed at home.
Although emergency vaccinations have been underway in China since at least last summer, the country has been slow to announce whether it had any plans to achieve herd immunity.
China currently has 17 COVID-19 vaccine candidates for clinical trials.
It has approved four domestically made vaccines: two from state-owned Sinopharm, one from Sinovac, and another from CanSino. None of the four vaccines have publicly released their final stage trial data, Associated Press has reported.
China announced last week that it would waive a COVID-19 test and health form requirement for foreigners applying for visas to the mainland from Hong Kong if they have been vaccinated with a Chinese-made vaccine.
According to Global Times, the facilitation applies only to applicants who have been inoculated with COVID-19 vaccines produced in China, either having received two doses of Chinese-made vaccines with the stipulated gap in between, or having received a single-dose Chinese-made vaccine at least 14 days prior to the application, and obtained the vaccination certificate, the office noted.
Proof of a negative COVID-19 nucleic acid test result and the Health and Travel Record Declaration Form for Visa Application are no longer required, according to the notice.
Aside from a vaccination certificate, non-Chinese nationals just have to provide the same amount of paperwork as they would before the pandemic, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ office in Hong Kong said. It also expanded the group of people who were eligible to apply for an emergency humanitarian visit, so that those who want to visit relatives may also apply.
All other applicants had to follow existing visa procedures.
This past week, China’s Foreign Ministry launched an international travel health certificate that includes a COVID-19 test and serum antibody results, as well as vaccination and other health information. It is unclear how it will be implemented. MDT/Agencies
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