Up to 1.7 million residents in Beijing have been vaccinated for COVID-19 epidemic control and prevention by Saturday since the capital started inoculations on Jan 1, according to a report by Beijing Daily on Jan 17.

The health authority started vaccinations for nine key groups of individuals at the beginning of the year.

These people include inspection workers at customs dealing with imported cold-chain products, porters at entry ports and those who work in the international and domestic transportation industries. Delivery workers, people who will travel abroad for work or personal reasons, medical workers and government department workers also are included.

According to the authority, 50,000 delivery workers have received vaccination and the remaining 30,000 will be vaccinated by Monday.

At present, the 205 medical centers in total can provide vaccination service. They do not accept individual reservations for vaccination. The municipal authority plans to complete this phase of vaccination work before Chinese Lunar New Year, which will fall on Feb 12.