Chinese workers wait to receive a COVID-19 vaccine jab at a mass vaccination center in Beijing on Jan. 5. Even with at least 5 homegrown vaccines nearing approval, China is setting a modest initial goal: 50 million people vaccinated by mid-February about 3.5% of the total population. Kevin Frayer/Getty Images
toggle caption Kevin Frayer/Getty Images
Chinese workers wait to receive a COVID-19 vaccine jab at a mass vaccination center in Beijing on Jan. 5. Even with at least 5 homegrown vaccines nearing approval, China is setting a modest initial goal: 50 million people vaccinated by mid-February about 3.5% of the total population. Kevin Frayer/Getty Images
Originally published on February 4, 2021 4:52 am
China has approved one domestic coronavirus vaccine for commercial use. Four more are in late stage human trials, and a nationwide vaccination campaign is already underway.
But the vaccine rollout is happening more slowly than expected. Only about 24 million doses have been administered, but those numbers represent only the first dose of a two-dose vaccine. That means at most, only 1.6% of China s population received their first shot by the end of January. Beijing s modest goal is to inoculate 50 million people or about 3.5% of the total population by mid-February, right before Lunar New Year.
China excels at mobilizing hundreds of millions of people for home isolation or mass COVID-19 testing. So why is it struggling with vaccination?
Data from the North Carolina-based Duke Global Health Innovation Center shows that the UK has ordered a total of 367 million doses of Covid vaccines from seven developers - enough for 5.5 jabs per person.
The Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, which accounts for 100 million of the order, has been approved for use in the UK, but some of the other jabs set to bump up the nation’s stocks, including Valneva, Novavax and Janssen, have not yet got the green light from regulators.
However, a ministerial source told The Telegraph that ministers are already examining ways “to protect us and the rest of the world” by sharing doses as soon as adequate supplies for the domestic vaccination programme are assured.
Rich countries are buying up coronavirus vaccines, leaving poorer regions vulnerable and as potential breeding grounds for variants, like one found in South Africa, that could make vaccines less effective.