NPC deputy suggests boosting vaccine circulation in Greater Bay Area

Special: 2022 Two Sessions

(ECNS) -- Vaccination barriers in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) should be lifted to facilitate the public health services in the region, Cai Weiping, a deputy to the National People's Congress (NPC), said in Beijing on Saturday.

Differences in vaccine regulation and immunization programs in Hong Kong, Macao and the Chinese mainland create inconvenience for people moving around the GBA, especially for infants and children, said Cai, also a chief expert at Guangdong Eighth People’s Hospital.

"If the public health service on the Chinese mainland is in line with that in Hong Kong and Macao, pathogen transmission due to population flow can be averted to a large extent," said Cai.

Cai suggested that Category II Vaccines, which are optional and require people to pay for them, be piloted first.

Vaccine circulation in the GBA can not only boost the integration of public service facilities and equalization of public health services in the area, but accelerate research and development among vaccine producers, said Cai.

(Reporter: Cai Minjie)