Zhejiang Province in eastern China is reported to have implemented a program that would provide potential COVID-19 vaccines to citizens for just under $ 60. According to the South China Morning Post, Zhejiang has approved vaccines developed through China, still in its final phase Human trials, for “emergency use” in the province through the local Center for Disease Control (CDC). Chen Guangsheng, deputy secretary general of the provincial government, said the vaccines will be administered to citizens in the fall and winter.
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Chen Guangsheng added that vaccines developed through Chinese pharmaceutical corporations have entered the last phase of human trials and have therefore shown no serious effects on volunteers. Chen said that priority would be given to citizens in the most affected spaces and vulnerable people, and that the first organization of others to be vaccinated would be frontline workers, adding medical personnel, security forces and others in quarantine centres.
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According to China’s Ministry of Health, to date, more than 350,000 people have been inoculated with possible COVID-19 vaccines in the country and no side effects other than mild pain, injection site redness or mild fatigue have been reported. The vaccination program being implemented in Zhejiang is a pilot assignment by the Communist Party of China to verify the protection and effectiveness of vaccines before they can be distributed to other parts of the country.
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In September, Wu Guizhen, the national CDC’s expert biosecurity leader, told state-run CCTV that a mass distribution vaccine in China would be available until the end of November. However, the World Health Organization (WHO) has stated that effective COVID-19 will not be available until mid-2021. According to WHO, more than 150 candidate vaccines are currently being developed worldwide.
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