China Only Allows People 18 to 59 to Take COVID-19 Vaccines

Sinovac Biotech vaccines are displayed at a press conference during a media tour of a new factory built to produce COVID-19 vaccines, in Beijing on Sept. 24, 2020. Wang Zhao/AFP via Getty Images

Chinese-made COVID-19 vaccines have come under scrutiny after regulators approved the first one for general use on Dec. 31 last year. Several Chinese pharmaceutical companies are still conducting clinical trials for their products.

A contraindication is a symptom or condition that makes treatment risky and potentially inadvisable.

The central government recently issued a list of contraindications that apply to domestically-manufactured COVID-19 vaccines: 1) people with potential health risks and health issues, including pregnant or breast-feeding women, people with acute fever, infection, immunodeficiency disorder, serious liver or kidney diseases, resistant hypertension, complicated diabetes, and malignant tumors; 2) it restricted the eligible population to those who are 18 to 59 years old. The government recommended that inoculation be done with at least two doses, taken 14 days apart. The notice was published in a variety of Chinese newspapers on Jan. 12.

The Beijing Center for Disease Control and Prevention recently issued a notice specifically for CoronaVac, a new vaccine manufactured by state-run drugmaker Sinovac Biotech. This notice was not broadly disseminated by the central government.

The Sinovac notice was a comprehensive list of contraindications or medical disclaimers for its COVID-19 vaccine, warning people with certain health conditions to take precautions.

Screenshot of a Sinovac document which shows a list of contraindications for its CoronaVac (COVID-19 vaccine). Provided to The Epoch Times

It advised that people who have a prior history of allergies, rhinitis, dermatitis, asthma, and other severe diseases should not take the vaccine. Severe adverse reactions to the vaccine include abdominal pain, skin eczema, urticaria, dyspnea, and angioedema.

The company also cautions those who have autoimmune diseases, bleeding disorders, progressive neurological diseases, and mental illness from taking the vaccine.

People who have undergone heart stent or bypass surgery; received any other vaccines within 14 days; or taken anti-allergic or antiviral drugs within the past three months are also advised not to take the vaccine.

Chinese authorities have approved the use of COVID-19 vaccines since July 2020 before they went through the last stage of clinical trials.

Brazil’s health regulator recently found CoronaVac to be 50.4 percent effective, just enough to pass the 50 percent threshold set by the World Health Organization for regulatory approval. It was far lower than initial claims announced last week that touted a 78 percent efficacy rate.

The Brazilian government made a deal to purchase up to 100 million doses of CoronaVac.

As the potential health risks were only recently publicized in China, it is unclear whether Chinese citizens who took the vaccine fully learned about the contraindications beforehand.