China says 200 million citizens have been vaccinated

Around 200 million Chinese, or 14.29% of population, have been vaccinated for COVID-19 so far, with an emphasis on front-line workers, university students and people living in border areas, a health official said Wednesday.

China is ramping up vaccination efforts after a slow start, prompted in part by virtual elimination of domestic transmission. Just two local cases were reported on Wednesday, both in city of Ruili, which borders on Myanmar.

Center of Disease Control official Cui Gang told a news conference that key areas and members of population were being prioritized for vaccines. China has approved five domestically produced vaccines and exported millions of doses, although some scientists believe y provide less protection that those by Pfizer, Moderna and AstraZeneca.

Chinese vaccines have an efficacy range of 50.7% to 79.3%, based on company data, lower than ir foreign peers but still effective.

China is now giving millions of shots a day and a top government doctor, Zhong Nanshan, has announced a goal of vaccinating 560 million of country’s 1.4 billion people by mid-June.

China locked down city of Wuhan for more than two months starting in January 2020 after coronavirus was first detected in late 2019. Wuhan became known as epicenter of pandemic, although Beijing has suggested virus might have been circulating earlier and possibly brought to China from abro.

Since n, China has controlled virus through stringent border controls and quick lockdowns whenever new outbreaks crop up. Mask wearing indoors remains almost universal and health tracing applications must be shown at most shops, offices and public buildings.

While China was first major economy to throw off effects of virus, restrictions are seen as limiting its furr growth, particularly as Beijing reies to welcome tens of thousands of visitors as host of Winter Olympics in February 2022.

Along with sheer scale of vaccination effort, authorities need to convince a population that largely no longer feels threatened by infection.

“At present, vaccination efforts in key areas and key population groups are progressing smoothly overall," Cui told reporters at Wednesday's briefing. Alrey, 80% of workers in health sector have received jab, Cui said.