Image Source: Global Times

Agencies:

Sixty dollar experimental Coronavirus vaccine rolled out in east Chinese city

Beijing
October 16, 2020

A $60 double dose experimental Coronavirus vaccine is being made available to some residents in an eastern Chinese city, health officials have said, the first details of a mass rollout for an as yet unproven vaccine.

Officials in Jiaxing city said Thursday residents aged between 18 and 59 with "urgent needs" can seek consultations at clinics for a Sinovac Biotech vaccine that authorities have been giving to groups such as medical workers.

The statement from Jiaxing's centre for disease control and prevention did not specify what constituted "urgent needs".

Authorities did not say how many people in the city had been given the vaccine, which comes in two doses, administered up to 28 days apart and costing a total of 400 yuan ($59).

China has already given hundreds of thousands of essential workers at ports, hospitals and other high risk areas across the country an experimental vaccine, according to officials.

But even as 11 Chinese vaccines have entered clinical trials with four in advanced phase three trials - none have been approved for mass market distribution.

China is desperate to win the global race for a vaccine against a virus which emerged in the central city of Wuhan, as it seeks to complete its narrative of recovery from the public health and economic calamity.

China has approved some candidates for emergency use, with officials saying they have not seen serious adverse reactions.