China in emergency vaccination drive in quake-hit areas

0 Comments | AFP, May, 2008

BEIJING (AFP) — China said Tuesday it would provide mass emergency vaccinations in quake-hit areas to curb potential epidemics, but reported no major disease outbreaks so far.

"By June 15, emergency inoculation of vulnerable people will be completed including vaccines against Hepatitis A and Encephalitis B," Sun Jiahai, a spokesman for the Ministry of Health, told reporters Tuesday.

He did not clarify how many would be inoculated, or who was classed as "vulnerable."

China will also store 100,000 vaccines against cholera, 20,000 against rabies, and 30,000 for measles, mumps and rubella, Sun said.

Qi Xiaoqiu, director of the disease control bureau of the Health Ministry, warned that people's immunity had been weakened following the 8.0-magnitude...