While the FDA continues the discussion of vaccinating children ages 5-11 against COVID-19 in the U.S., China will start vaccinating kids as young as 3.
China has a zero tolerance policy for outbreaks and 76% of their population is fully vaccinated.
The vaccines are manufactured by Sinovac Biotech Ltd and state-owned Sinopharm. They are currently given to children ages 12 and up and in June were approved for children ages 3 and up.
There are currently vaccination sites for children this young in Hubei, Hunan, Hainan, and Zhejiang provinces. The children will receive two doses, three weeks apart.
Once China approved the vaccine for young children in their country, other countries followed their lead. Right now in Cambodia children between 6 and 11 can have both Sinovac and Sinopharm vaccines. Chile approved Sinovac for children age 6 and up, and Argentina approved Sinopharm for kids as young as 3 years old.
China is supplying many of these countries with vaccines after they were unable to get the vaccine from companies like Pfizer and Moderna. China has sent out over 1.2 billion doses already.
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