Vaccine teams go to remote lakeshore residents

To help remote residents living on the shores of Weishan Lake in Shandong province get a COVID-19 vaccination, Weishan county has sent medical professionals to the area to provide shots, especially for the elderly.

Getting the vaccine has been inconvenient for residents in the past, but now the teams are coming to them. Of the 16 villages of Gaolou town, 10 include people living in lake areas — some on boats and some living on platforms built along the shoreline.

"Before, we needed to reach a medical service center in the town or county to get vaccinated. That meant taking a boat and then a bus — more than an hour of travel," said Zhou Xuexiang, a resident of Yanhebei village in Gaolou town who was vaccinated recently.

The county has sent 82 vaccination teams to villages where residents have difficulty traveling, the county's health committee said.

As of December, the vaccination rate of people aged 60 to 79 was 96 percent. Those over 80 years were 93 percent vaccinated, the committee said.