China hits 400 mln vaccine doses following recent COVID-19 outbreaks

May 19, 2021
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China is working at full throttle to vaccinate its people against COVID-19, as over 400 million doses had been administered as of Sunday, just nine days after the figure surpassed 300 million doses.

It took 17 days for the number of COVID-19 vaccines administered on the Chinese mainland to exceed 300 million doses from 200 million doses, and 26 days from 100 million doses to 200 million doses, according to daily updates by the National Health Commission.

The accelerated mass vaccination drive has been partially spurred by the latest COVID-19 outbreaks in east China’s Anhui Province and northeast China’s Liaoning Province, which had seen 16 confirmed locally transmitted cases in total as of Sunday evening.

Long queues were seen at multiple vaccination sites in Hefei, capital city of Anhui. A temporary vaccination site has been set up in the Second Hospital of Anhui Medical University to meet the surging demand since May 14.

Duan Yichen, a Hefei citizen, queued up at the hospital in the early morning the next day.

“I had thought of it before, but I never went. The recent outbreaks made me realize the importance of vaccination,” Duan said. “Getting vaccinated without delay means taking responsibility for yourself and the well-being of others.”