China ‘has been vaccinating key workers since July’

BEIJING, Aug 24, 2020, Sky News. China has been giving experimental coronavirus vaccines to key workers since July, a government official has said, Sky News reported.

Some medical workers, border officials and those who work at food markets have been offered vaccines in the hope of boosting immunity to high-risk groups, Zheng Zhongwei, of China’s National Health Commission reportedly told state media.

Its “emergency” use was approved by Beijing last month and was rolled out on 22 July, she added.

There are currently 170 separate efforts to create a safe and effective vaccine for COVID-19, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO) – but none have yet been approved.

Professor Chris Whitty, England’s chief medical officer, said yesterday it is unlikely that a coronavirus vaccine will be widely available before winter 2021.

The “emergency” vaccine being used by the Chinese government appears to be the country’s first – outside of clinical trials.

Ms Zheng told state media CCTV on Saturday: “We’ve drawn up a series of plan packages, medical consent forms, side effect monitoring plans, rescuing plans, compensation plans, to make sure the emergency use is well regulated and monitored.”