Zhang Yu

JeniZhang13@163.com

STARTING from Thursday, reservations for the COVID-19 vaccination to Shenzhen residents aged 60 and older has been fully opened. Meanwhile, some vaccination sites in the city began offering the three-dose recombinant COVID-19 vaccine on the same day, according to the city’s health commission.

At present, people aged 18 or above (including those aged 60 or older) can make a reservation for their COVID-19 vaccination through one of the three WeChat accounts of 深圳卫健委 (szwjwwx), 深圳疾控 (szcdcepi) and 健康深圳 (jkshenzhen), or through the WeChat miniprogram 社康通 (shekangtong).

Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan compatriots as well as foreign expatriates can make a reservation through the WeChat account of 健康深圳 (jkshenzhen). They can also make an appointment through a local community and then get vaccinated at designated community sites.

Citizens aged 70 and older are advised to go to vaccination sites accompanied by family members, relatives and friends or community staff, said the commission.

For people aged 60 and above with underlying conditions such as hypertension and hyperglycemia, experts from the Shenzhen Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) advise that they get vaccinated as long as their condition and medications are under control.

Shenzhen CDC also suggests that these patients should monitor and truthfully disclose their condition to the evaluating doctors for better assessment of their eligibility for the vaccines.

Local residents now also have the choice to receive a three-shot recombinant COVID-19 vaccine instead of the widely used two-dose vaccines and the single-dose CanSino COVID-19 vaccine.

According to the requirements for the three-shot vaccine, the interval between the two adjacent doses should be more than four weeks. The second dose should be completed within eight weeks after the first dose and the third dose should be completed within six months after the first dose.

The three-dose vaccine is currently unavailable in Yantian and Guangming districts and Dapeng New Area, while the supply of the vaccine in other districts is relatively tight.

The three-dose vaccine is applicable to people aged 18 or above. The health authorities recommend that at the current stage, citizens should complete the vaccination with the same COVID-19 vaccine type and avoid a mix of COVID-19 vaccines.

In order to help citizens find COVID vaccination sites easier, site maps are put into use on the apps of Amap, Baidu Map and Tencent Map by the joint effort of the city’s health department and the three map providers. A total of 532 vaccination sites in the city can be found in the maps. Search “新冠疫苗” in any of the three maps, users can know all the vaccination sites within their vicinity.