A resident receives a free COVID-19 vaccination in Shanghai on January 7, 2021. Photo: Yang Hui/GT

 
Chinese cities including Shanghai, Hefei, Haikou are pushing forward a plan to vaccinate 50 million people of key groups before the travel peak of Chinese New Year which falls on February 12.

In Shanghai, the first batch of permanent residents and those with household registration who plan to work or study abroad for personal reasons were given the COVID-19 vaccine on Thursday. 

At a community health service center in Huangpu district of Shanghai, a Global Times reporter saw inoculations vaccines are being carried out in an orderly manner. The medical institutions conducted closed-off management during the whole vaccination process.

Around 100 people had registered to take the vaccine at the center in Shanghai. All overseas travelers who registers for the vaccine will have their passports checked, flight plans confirmed.

“Don’t leave until 30 minute later for medical observation after inoculation; Don’t take a bath for 24 hours, and drink more water and get more rest,” a doctor at the center told a resident who received the vaccine on Thursday.

A local resident said he “felt relieved to go abroad” after getting the vaccine.

As of Monday, 326,000 people from key groups had received COVID-19 vaccines for emergency use in Shanghai, including personnel at the airport, ports, border control, cold-chain food industry, medical workers, public security officers, firefighters and community workers, the municipal government said on Wednesday. 

The authorities said the city has  carried out the three-step inoculation scheme to ensure key personnel will receive their second dose before February 5.

Other cities are also planning to meet that date. In Hefei, capital of East China’s Anhui Province, the local medical institutions have started vaccinating people from key groups. 

Before giving the vaccine, medics will double check with residents whether they have history allergic reaction or other disqualifying chronic conditions such as high blood, according to Xinhua News Agency on Thursday. Residents stay at the injection site for 30 minutes to ensure they have no adverse effects.

A staffer from the Anhui disease control authorities told the Global Times on Thursday that the province will follow the national scheme and push forward inoculations for key groups.

In North China’s Shanxi Province, the provincial health commission announced on Tuesday that the province will make sure all the key groups complete their inoculations before February 5.

In Haikou, South China’s Hainan Province, the city announced on Tuesday that residents going abroad for personal reasons can make an appointment to receive the COVID-19 vaccine.

Global Times