The Shenzhen Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has completed the procurement of a total of 1.2 million free influenza vaccinations for primary and secondary school students, the CDC said yesterday.
For the convenience of students and parents, vaccination sites will be arranged on campus this year.
The free flu shots will be available starting next week. Specific times for the vaccination at each school is yet to be determined by each district’s health and education authorities.
The free flu vaccines for primary and secondary school students in Shenzhen are funded by the city’s finance bureau. The purchased vaccines are trivalent influenza vaccines manufactured by Sanofi Pasteur.
Since 2016, Shenzhen has been offering free flu vaccines to the elderly aged 60 and above every year. The policy has extended to children for the first time starting in 2019, and all primary and secondary school students in the city can be inoculated free of charge.
According to the CDC, flu vaccination can significantly reduce the risk of getting the flu and flu-related complications, as well as the risk of spreading the flu to others.
It has been reported that Beijing has been offering free flu shots to primary and secondary school students for 13 consecutive years since 2007.
Observation data has proved that flu vaccines can play a vital role in the control of flu epidemics in the capital city of China. Schools with flu vaccination rates greater than 50 percent have seen the probability of influenza-induced fever outbreak decrease by 85 percent.