Some 20,000 German citizens will be able to get vaccinated as the country registers an explosion of infections
The German federal government sent a first shipment of coronavirus vaccines from the German laboratory BioNTech and the American pharmaceutical company Pfizer to Beijing on Wednesday to immunize its more than 20,000 citizens residing in China. The move comes as the Asian country appears to have abandoned the ‘covid zero’ policy and relaxed a good part of its restrictions, allowing the virus to spread. The official spokesperson for the Berlin Executive, Steffen Hebesteit, announced that the first shipment will reach its goal before the end of the day. The German ambassador in Beijing, Patricia Flor, stressed that vaccinations of German citizens will begin as soon as possible.
German medical experts doubt, however, that the vaccination will take place on time. The majority of Germans in China reside in and around Shanghai or in the country’s capital, and in both cities the virus is spreading at breakneck speed, following Beijing’s change in strategy to combat the disease announced on 7th of December. In the capital alone, it is estimated that several million people have been infected and the Chinese health authorities themselves estimate that each person carrying the virus infects sixteen others. Such a dizzying development had not been registered either in Europe or in the United States at the height of the pandemic.
One of the reasons, according to German experts, is that the Chinese vaccine, despite being applied even in three doses, does not generate enough antibodies to combat the virulent omicron variant. The infections occur as if one were not vaccinated at all. Meanwhile, the German Embassy in Beijing has already sent a message to all German residents in China offering them a free vaccination shortly. They can be immunized in five large cities: Beijing, Shanghai, Shenyang, Chengdu and Guangzhou. In all of them the coronavirus is spreading very quickly. The offer is only for German nationals and specifies that “relatives with another nationality will not be included”.
all expatriates
The information contradicts the results of the recent visit by Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz to Beijing, where he met with Chinese President Xi Jinping. Then in Berlin an agreement was announced between the two governments so that, thanks to the German initiative, all Europeans residing in that country could be vaccinated. Vaccines would be provided by Berlin. Scholz commented after that visit that Beijing had authorized the vaccination of all “expatriates” with German help. What made Americans or Japanese also show their interest in participating in the campaign initiated by the German Executive. German government sources stressed that Berlin has insisted on Beijing in recent weeks with its offer to set up a factory for the BioNTech/Pfizer vaccine in China to help immunize the country’s population, although so far the response has been negative.
The temporary permission to send German-produced vaccines to China has occurred at the same time that Berlin has authorized Beijing to send doses of its Sinovac product to Germany to immunize its nationals in this country. “With this authorization we want to achieve that Chinese citizens can be protected here by their own vaccine,” said the German Minister of Health, Karl Lauterbach on December 7 when announcing the bilateral agreement reached. Of course, the Chinese vaccine will only be administered to nationals of that country residing in Germany and only at the Chinese embassy and consulates.
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