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A number of hospitals and community health centers have reported a limited supply of seasonal flu vaccines, as Chinese cities launch a full-scale flu vaccination program that attempts to prevent the backlash of the COVID-19 epidemic. The country's major vaccine producers have pledged to increase their production to ensure sufficient supply. 

Before entering the first winter after the COVID-19 epidemic, China has strengthened its flu vaccine deployment, bracing for potential "dual epidemics" in the upcoming flu season. Some cities in China, such as Beijing, have already launched a full-scale influenza vaccination program for local residents.

Beijing has set up 446 free flu vaccination centers and 480 centers under a self-paying vaccine program in medical and health institutions, according to the Beijing Center for Disease Control and Prevention. 

However, a number of vaccine centers are running out of flu shots. When asked, doctors at the centers said the earliest shot available will be in late October due to "heated demand."

"All of my family members will be taking the flu shots this year," a Beijing citizen, surnamed Wang, told the Global Times on Thursday. "We never did this before, but this kind of prevention seems extremely important amid COVID-19 concerns."

A doctor from a community health center in Wuhan, Central China's Hubei Province, the hardest-hit Chinese city by the coronavirus, also confirmed to the Global Times that flu shots are in hot demand. 

"We have been taking a lot of phone calls inquiring about the flu shots and making reservations," said the doctor on Wednesday. 

In response to growing demand, vaccine producers have vowed to increase flu vaccine production to ensure sufficient supply. 

"We have been working overtime to make sure enough flu vaccines are available," an employee of Sinovac Biotech, one of the country's major vaccine producers, told local media Beijing Daily.

According to statistics, the number of flu vaccine doses in 2020 is expected to double from 2019 to 50 million.

An official of China's Center for Disease Control and Prevention also said the current shortage in flu shots is only temporary, and the supply of vaccines will continue to increase after the National Day holidays, Beijing Daily reported on Thursday. 

A full-scale flu vaccination program will help reduce the risk of people contracting the flu and COVID-19 simultaneously, and will relieve the strain on the country's healthcare system as it braces to fight another potential epidemic wave, experts noted.