Shanghai residents who need to travel overseas for personal reasons \r\nwill be able to make reservations for COVID-19 vaccine inoculation \r\nbeginning on Jan 5, the municipal government announced on Jan 6.

Permanent residents scheduled to travel overseas for study or work \r\nbefore Spring Festival, which falls on Feb 12, can make appointments \r\nthrough the Healthy Cloud app set up by the Shanghai Municipal Health \r\nCommission.

Expatriates are not eligible for the vaccinations at present, the government said.

After making a reservation, a person intending to travel should go to\r\n a community health center for inoculation at the appointed time and \r\nshow their passport, visas, flight tickets and ID card.

Seventeen community health centers across the city have been designated to provide the service.

Based on the principle of protecting the health of citizens traveling\r\n overseas, the vaccines will be provided for free, the government said. \r\nThe new measure will also apply to those needing to travel to Hong Kong,\r\n Macao and Taiwan.

The government said people aged between 18 and 59 are eligible for \r\nthe domestic inactivated vaccine. The vaccination involves two shots, \r\nadministered 14 days apart.

"Tests on various types of variants of the COVID-19 virus as well as \r\nthe virus strains from the United States, United Kingdom, Russia and \r\nAustria showed that the specific antibody recognition ability of the \r\ninactivated vaccine was not affected," the Shanghai Municipal Center for\r\n Disease Control and Prevention said in a public notice.

"Its protectiveness works against mutated virus strains and those \r\noriginating in other countries. Evidence has proved that the protection \r\nfrom the vaccination can last for half a year or longer."

An internet user going by the penname Zcl left a comment on the \r\nShanghai government post announcing the measure. "What great news! My \r\nchild will depart for the UK for studies before Spring Festival," they \r\nsaid. "Our family will feel much more reassured about his health now \r\nthat he will be leaving after receiving the vaccine shots."

The city government also said on Wednesday that eight types of \r\npeople, including those who work in international and domestic \r\ntransportation, medical workers and government department workers, have \r\nbeen designated as key groups to receive COVID-19 vaccinations.

Cargo handlers and workers at entry ports that faced infection risks \r\nfrom imported virus were inoculated by the end of last month.

As of Monday, 326,000 people in Shanghai had received the vaccine and\r\n no severe abnormal reactions had been reported. Vaccine inoculations \r\nfor all eight types of people are scheduled to be completed by Feb 5.