A Shanghai resident receives inhaled COVID-19 vaccine as a booster dose on October 26, 2022. Shanghai became the first city in China to provide this type of vaccine boosters. Photo: VCG

Jinshan district in Shanghai on Monday initiated a plan to inoculate COVID-19 second booster shot for high-risk groups and the elderly residents, a latest move along with some other regions across China such as Beijing to step up the protection of vulnerable groups amid the anti-virus response optimization.

Residents over the age of 18 who have completed the first dose of booster shot can go to the nearby vaccination clinics for the second dose of booster shot. The interval period between the first and second booster shot should be more than six months, according to a notice released by local media iJinshan via its official WeChat account on Monday.

The target groups include high-risk people who have direct contact with entry personnel, goods and the environment, employees in quarantine places, and medical personnel in fever clinics in medical institutions, the elderly people over 60 years old, people with serious underlying diseases and those with weak immune systems, according to the notice. Other people who are willing to receive the second booster dose may also choose to be inoculated based on their own needs.

The notice said that currently a total of 11 community healthcare centers in Jinshan district are providing five vaccine booster combinations based on the national plan.

A Jinshan local community healthcare center employee surnamed Huang told the Global Times on Monday that there are about 100 consulting calls for the second booster shot. About 40 residents who are mainly neighboring residents and employees of the community center have received the second booster shot. “It is expected that there will be more residents to receive the second booster shot in the coming days as the notice was just released this afternoon,” Huang said.

Another employee working in another community healthcare center told the Global Times that residents can choose inhaled or intramuscular injection.

Along with Shanghai, some other regions also started the work to push forward the second booster shot. Beijing’s Dongcheng district started the booster campaign on Thursday, which has set vaccination sites in 17 blocks within the district, offering detailed addresses, opening times, contact personnel and phone numbers for each location.

As of December 13, 86.6 percent of people aged above 60 and 66.4 percent of seniors over 80 had completed their full COVID-19 vaccination, according to the authorities.