An official in charge of vaccination at a provincial-level centre for disease control and prevention, who declined to be named because he was not authorised to speak to the media, said his province would not exclude foreigners if they were in priority groups, but in practice he had not seen foreigners being given a Covid-19 vaccine.
「We are still under emergency use of Covid-19 vaccine and only one product has been approved [for this],」 the official said. 「The number of doses available is limited so it needs to be prioritised. But once vaccines are approved for a full market launch, they will be available for everyone to take, including foreigners, just like flu vaccines.」
According to the foreign ministry, Beijing 「attaches high importance to the health of foreign citizens staying in China and has been actively providing assistance to them」.
But the ministry did not elaborate when asked about vaccination plans for foreigners.
An Italian restaurant chain executive in Beijing’s Chaoyang district who requested anonymity said his foreign staff had not been offered the vaccine but Chinese employees had been vaccinated. He said he would like to get a jab but understood that availability was limited.
「At least people I work with have been vaccinated and I am protected in a way, so that’s good. I am hoping I will be vaccinated soon,」 the manager said.
For foreigners keen to travel, there are concerns about how their plans could be affected by the vaccination roll-out.
「Our members in China are not concerned about dropping dead due to Covid-19 in China because of good public health management. Our main concern is how quickly we can get reopened for travel,」 said Gibbs from AmCham.
「We see that [is] only possible through widespread vaccination and a government policy that links vaccination with travel restrictions, a sort of a vaccine passport system in place.」
Travellers also face the possibility of getting vaccinated and then returning a positive antibody test that would cause them to be barred from entering China under the current policy. China requires inbound passengers to present documents to prove double negative results from a nucleic coronavirus test and an antibody test before they go into quarantine for 14 to 28 days, depending on the destination city.
「The problem right now is that there’s a lack of coordination between the vaccines and the testing and that’s creating a negative incentive to take the vaccine. In other words, somebody who’s expecting to travel out and back into China might like to get a vaccine, but have a false positive on the test and therefore not be able to travel,」 Gibbs said.
Wang Bin, an official with the National Health Commission, said earlier this month that China’s prevention and control measures for people entering the country would take vaccinations into account, but she did not elaborate on what changes would be made or when.
Chapuis said the European Union was keen to find out the Chinese government’s position on recognising vaccines because none of the three vaccines approved for emergency use in China was certified in Europe and vice versa.
「What happens if you are vaccinated in China? You go to Europe but the Chinese vaccine is not recognised because it’s not certified. You cannot have two vaccines but one. That’s the problem,」 he said.
「There needs to be a global concerted effort to virtually recognise [domestic] vaccines and foreign vaccines,」 Chapuis said, adding that Chinese vaccines should go through full certification procedures in Europe instead of only the fast track application process for emergency use.