Covid-19: China will have enough vaccine doses – convincing the public is the issue, experts say

With the pandemic largely under control, they say hesitancy is a challenge and misinformation about safety is a factor

So far, just 3.56 per cent of the population has been immunised and authorities want to speed up the roll-out to hit 40 per cent target by July

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Experts say more needs to be done to overcome vaccine hesitancy in China. Photo: EPA-EFE

Published: 9:45pm, 4 Mar 2021Updated: 8:33am, 5 Mar 2021

Health experts said China would have enough vaccine doses to meet a target of immunising 40 per cent of the population against Covid-19 by July, but overcoming public hesitancy was a challenge.

They said that with the pandemic largely under control in China it has lagged behind in its vaccine roll-out because people saw less need to get the jab.

Early this week, top respiratory disease expert Zhong Nanshan said China had only vaccinated 3.56 per cent of its population of 1.4 billion by February. He said the government now wanted to speed up the programme to meet the July target of 40 per cent – or more than 500 million people.

Meanwhile, Chinese vaccine makers have announced plans to boost production. That includes Sinovac Biotech, the producer of CoronaVac, which will expand its annual production capacity to 2 billion doses by June.

Tao Lina, a vaccine expert and former immunologist at the Shanghai Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, said the 40 per cent target was achievable since drug makers in China could raise their combined output to 4 billion doses a year if needed.

“If we give priority to boosting domestic inoculation we will have enough vaccine doses,” Tao said.

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