Anti-Covid-19 vaccines: China passes the billion-dose mark
China has now administered more than a billion doses of vaccines against Covid-19, the Ministry of Health announced on Sunday, without however specifying the percentage of the population having received a full vaccination.
This number of injected doses represents more than a third of the planetary total.
China hopes to vaccinate at least 70% of its population by the end of the year (illustrative image).
AP - Matias Delacroix
Text by: RFI Follow
3 min
China has now administered more than a billion doses of vaccines against Covid-19, the Ministry of Health in Beijing announced on Sunday, June 20, without however specifying the percentage of the population having received a full vaccination.
This number of injected doses represents more than a third of the planetary total.
The world had passed the 2.5 billion mark on Friday, June 18.
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The Chinese did not initially rush to get vaccinated.
The Covid-19 has been virtually eradicated from the country for more than a year, thanks to mandatory quarantines, massive screenings or mobile travel control applications.
The lack of data initially available on Chinese vaccines and past scandals of adulterated doses in China had also helped to chill some people.
But the government and businesses then took a more proactive approach by strongly pushing residents and employees to get vaccinated, emphasizing national solidarity and their duty as citizens.
In Beijing, certain neighborhoods thus displayed the percentage of vaccinated in front of buildings, in order to put pressure on the recalcitrant.
Authorities also sometimes offer vouchers or eggs to encourage vaccinations.
In total, 1.01 billion doses have already been administered, according to the Ministry of Health.
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See also: Covid-19: China extends its vaccination campaign to children
Vaccinate at least 70% of the population by the end of the year
The appearance in recent weeks of a few local cases in the densely populated province of Guangdong, in the south of the country, has also served as a reminder in the face of the risk of an epidemic resumption. The Ministry of Health also reported on Sunday 23 new patients in 24 hours. However, all of them are people arriving from abroad, who are in any case automatically placed in quarantine, without contact with the rest of the population.
China hopes to fully immunize at least 70% of its population by the end of the year, or around one billion people.
Four vaccines, all Chinese, are currently authorized: that of the private laboratory
Sinovac
, two of the public giant
Sinopharm
and one of the pharmaceutical company CanSino Biologics.
The vaccine from the German company BioNTech could also receive a green light in the coming months, in particular thanks to an agreement with a local partner.
Only two deaths from Covid-19 have been recorded in thirteen months in China.
Shops, restaurants and bars reopened in spring 2020 and public opinion is generally very satisfied with the government's management of the crisis.
(With
AFP)
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To read also: The WHO gives its emergency approval to the Chinese anti-Covid Sinovac vaccine
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