Spaniards in China get Moderna Covid-19 booster jabs, but China won’t record them

Name: China’s Omicron outbreaks dampening Lunar New Year travels
Uploaded: 2022-02-22T13:31:57.000Z
Duration: 3 min 8 s
Description: China’s Omicron outbreaks dampening Lunar New Year travels

Limited number of doses arrive in Beijing to be given as boosters in the Spanish embassy

The shots will not be recognised by the Covid-19 health code app in China, where the population has been vaccinated with domestically made jabs

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Moderna shots are to be given in the Spanish embassy in Beijing. Photo: Reuters

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Published: 9:31pm, 22 Feb 2022Updated: 9:45pm, 22 Feb 2022

Spain’s embassy in Beijing is to make a limited number of non-Chinese Covid-19 vaccine doses available for Spaniards based in China.

The embassy said on Tuesday that the vaccines, supplied by US firm Moderna, had arrived in China and were to be used only as boosters. They are expected to be administered in the first week of March in the embassy premises.

But the Moderna booster shots will not be recognised as proof of vaccination in China’s Covid-19 health code app, which is required for travel and entering premises.

“Since this is a complex process, and we still do not know the number of people who will request this dose, nor how many [doses] will finally be available, requests will be dealt with in strict order of request until all doses have been used,” the embassy said on its website.

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China’s Omicron outbreaks dampening Lunar New Year travels

China has yet to approve any Covid-19 vaccines developed by foreign drug makers and has relied on domestic jabs for its population, 87 per cent of whom had been inoculated as of February 7.