Vaccination rates among older students top 90 percent

More than 95 percent of students over 18 and faculty at Chinese schools and universities have received two shots of COVID-19 vaccine, China Central Television reported on Wednesday.

The two-shot vaccination rate of students between 12 and 17 reached 91 percent, the report said, citing the Ministry of Education.

Wang Dengfeng, head of the ministry's department of physical, health and arts education, was quoted by CCTV as saying that the ministry is encouraging students and faculty to stay put for the upcoming Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day holidays.

The Mid-Autumn Festival is a traditional Chinese festival featuring family reunion. This year, the festival falls on Tuesday and there will be a three-day break for the festival from Sunday to Tuesday. The weeklong National Day holiday will run from Oct 1 to 7.

Wang said the ministry is encouraging regular nucleic acid testing to be conducted in schools in border areas and places with frequent movement of inbound travelers.

The latest COVID-19 outbreak, in Putian, Fujian province, was first found during random testing of two students at a primary school in Xianyou county on Friday, according to the city government.

It said over the weekend that the cluster of infections likely stemmed from a passenger who arrived in Fujian from Singapore on Aug 4 and was released from quarantine on Aug 26. The two students are his children. The passenger and his wife also tested positive.

A news conference in Putian on Tuesday was told 36 primary and kindergarten students in the city had tested positive for novel coronavirus as of Monday. Vaccination of children aged 12 and under has not yet been approved.

The Ministry of Education said in a notice issued on Wednesday that local education authorities and schools should make COVID-19 epidemic prevention and control one of their top priorities.

They should not be slack in containment efforts and should close loopholes in campus epidemic prevention and control work, the notice said.

Education authorities and schools should strengthen checks on people entering schools and conduct more detailed monitoring of the health conditions of students and teachers to prevent outbreaks on campus.

In April, the ministry asked local education authorities and universities to actively cooperate with vaccination efforts by local governments.

It said students and faculty should understand the importance of the vaccination drive, and its significance in safeguarding health and safety, as well as national economic and social development.

Through informed consent and the provision of free vaccinations, local education authorities and universities should help dispel doubts among students and faculty and make them more willing to be vaccinated, it said.