China to allow German expats to use German COVID-19 vaccines

BEIJING, Dec 10 (Reuters) – The Chinese foreign ministry said China and Germany had reached an agreement on providing “German vaccines” to German nationals in China, after the German Chancellor recently said that BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine would be used by German expatriates. 

Relevant arrangements will be discussed and determined by the two sides through diplomatic channels, Mao Ning, a spokeswoman at the Chinese foreign ministry told reporters on Friday at a regular press conference. 

On Nov. 4, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, on his visit to Beijing, announced an agreement to let expatriates in China use the COVID-19 vaccine from Germany’s BioNTech.

BioNTech’s COVID vaccine would be the first non-Chinese coronavirus vaccine to be administered in China, although to just German nationals, as Beijing had until now insisted on administering domestically produced vaccines.

(Reporting by Ryan Woo; Editing by Himani Sarkar)

Reuters