(corrects the place of the event)
BEIJINGJan. 5 – Germans living in China started receiving the BioNTech vaccine on Thursday COVID-19, first foreign vaccine against the coronavirus to be administered in a country that has not approved the use of non-Chinese vaccines, despite the increase in infections.
Under an agreement reached during a visit to Beijing by Chancellor Olaf Scholz in November, Germans aged 12 and older can receive the first dose or a booster of the BioNTech vaccine at a designated international hospital in Beijing, Shanghai, Shenyang , Guangzhou or Chengdu.
More than 8,000 doses of the BioNTech vaccine, developed with Pfizer, have been shipped to China and more than 1,500 people have expressed interest, the German foreign ministry said on Tuesday.
About 14,000 German nationals live in China, according to the embassy.
German authorities are “trying to extend the offer to other nationalities as well”, according to their Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
China has so far insisted on using only domestically produced vaccines, rejecting those produced in the West that use more modern mRNA technology.
China, with a population of 1.4 billion, has abruptly abandoned its policy of “COVID zero” and infections are on the rise in a population with little immunity after being protected since the virus appeared three years ago in the Chinese city of Wuhan.
