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BEIJING: China has offered experimental coronavirus vaccines to aviation industry workers, according to a regulatory advisory seen by Reuters, in a push to inoculate high-risk groups to avoid a potential resurgence as economies shrink. reopen.
China, which has four COVID-19 vaccines in the final stage of human trials, launched the emergency-use vaccine program in July, hoping to boost immunity for groups like border inspectors or medical industry workers.
Frontline workers of airlines, airports, China National Aviation Fuel Group and TravelSky Technology Limited will receive a candidate vaccine on a voluntary basis, according to the notice from China’s aviation regulator.
The Civil Aviation Administration of China has asked these sectors and companies to compile a list of personal information of employees willing to receive the vaccine, the notice added.
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The vaccination is “in response to a possible second wave of infections that will break out in the fall and winter, and the enormous pressure facing our work to prevent imported cases as Western countries reopen despite the pandemic,” according to the advisory. .
While the regulator did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Reuters, several staff members from Air China, China Southern Airlines and Juneyao Airlines confirmed that they had received such a notice.
Juneyao said she had submitted a list of employees willing to receive the vaccine. The other airlines did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
It is not yet clear which vaccine candidate will be administered and how many people will be vaccinated.
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At least two experimental vaccines, one from Sinovac Biotech Ltd and the other from China National Biotec Group, have been approved for emergency use in China.
No vaccine has yet passed the final large-scale trials to show that it is effective enough to protect people from contracting the virus that has caused more than 860,000 deaths worldwide.
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