A total of 73,537 people in Beijing have received the first dose of the coronavirus vaccine at 220 inoculation venues in two days since the city began administering the jab among specific groups of people with higher infection risks on Friday, the state media, Xinhua, reports.
No serious side effects have been observed among the vaccine receivers, Gao Xiaojun, a spokesperson for the municipal health commission told a press briefing Sunday.
The inoculationy covers nine groups of people aged 18 to 59 years in Beijing. These include frontline customs inspectors of imported cold-chain goods and personnel working in the overseas and domestic transportation sector.
A female staffer at a vaccination point in Beijing's Xicheng district waited for people at 7:00 a.m. Sunday.
"I'm responsible for ID verification and registration before they get the vaccine," said the woman. Her face and hands had turned red due to the cold. "Here we mainly serve practitioners in cold-chain and catering industries. Everyone queued up in an orderly way and fully understood and supported our work."
"Our company informed us of nine possible contraindications to receive the vaccine. Since I have none of them I came without hesitation," said Xie Fei, who works at a Walmart store in the district.
"The injection was administered in minutes and I have been observed for half an hour. Currently I don't have any discomfort," said Xie, who came with about 30 colleagues. "I'm frequently exposed to imported cold-chain food at work, and the vaccination not only protects me but also customers."
Zheng Ying, head of a health service center in Guangwai Community, Xicheng District, told Xinhua that the center can receive 1,200 recipients a day.
"All the vaccination venues have been set up in idle factories, gymnasiums and other similar places to help prevent and control the spread of the virus," said Niu Xiangjun, deputy director of the health commission in Beijing's Daxing District.
According to Niu, so far a total of 17 temporary vaccination sites have been set up in Daxing District, covering about 100,000 people with higher infection risks. Of them, about one-fifth do work related to the newly- built Beijing Daxing International Airport. "We have trained our medics in advance and stationed ambulances at these venues to help with the vaccination," said Niu.-Photo: Xinhua
