Beijing’s Teens Now Have Access to Vaccine

With more than 90% of Beijing's 18+ population already fully inoculated against Covid-19, the city has announced plans for vaccinating 12- to 17-year-olds beginning today, according to the Beijing Municipal Government Information Office.

The Chinese-made Sinopharm and Sinovac vaccines were approved for use in teenagers in June, roughly six months after the vaccines were approved and began to be rolled out to over 18s.

Since then, select cities and regions in China have been announcing their rollout plans for teens, and now comes Beijing's turn.

The first phase began yesterday (July 20) and is open 15- to 17-year-olds. At an unspecified date at the beginning of August, it will then be rolled out for 12- to 14-year-olds.

Children currently in school over the summer will have their vaccinations arranged by school authorities, while those not in school will get access via their residential communities.

No word yet on whether the rollout will be available to foreign teens at the same time. Beijing's rollout of the vaccine for adults started in December 2020 but foreign citizens were not given access until late March of this year.

As with the adult rollout, vaccination for teens at this point is not mandatory but is strongly encouraged.

Informal polls in the 5,000-strong WeChat-based Safe & Sane communities show that the rate of vaccination amongst Beijing's foreigners is not far behind, with an estimated 80% receiving at least one of the two vaccine shots.

According to reports in The Global Times, both the Sinovac and Sinopharm vaccines have been administered to children in clinical trials held earlier this year. The vaccines were well-tolerated and resulted in the presence of antibodies, reports indicate.