The newly approved COVID-19 vaccination will be free of charge to all the Chinese citizens, an official said on Thursday.
China granted conditional marketing authorization for its first self-developed COVID-19 vaccine on Wednesday.
The inactivated vaccine, which got the approval from the National Medical Products Administration (NMPA), is developed by the Beijing Biological Products Institute Co., Ltd. under the China National Biotec Group (CNBG), which is affiliated with Sinopharm.
Zeng Yixin, deputy director of the National Health Commission, said at a press conference in Beijing that the previous emergency use of the vaccine on key groups has proven its safety, and the state will provide it free to all Chinese people.
“In the past 15 days, cumulatively 3 million dozes have been given to key population nationwide. During the vaccination, we have come up with a series of regimes in building up a complete set of vaccination spot setting norms, proper training on vaccination operators, and screening of recipients, monitoring of malign reactions, providing first-aid, and expert consultation for serious adverse effects to guarantee safe and smooth vaccination. The 3 million plus the 1.5 million dozes given previously have fully evidenced that our vaccine is safe. One major premise is that we will surely provide the vaccination free to all the Chinese citizens,” he said.
