The Latest Breaking News from BioNTech

Germans living in China began receiving the BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine on Thursday, the first such rollout of a foreign coronavirus vaccine in a country that has not otherwise approved the use of non-Chinese vaccines even as infections soar.

Hong Kong residents have swamped clinics to get vaccinated against COVID-19 ahead of the expected reopening of the city's border with mainland China, which some people fear will bring a surge of infections to the financial hub.

China and Germany should work together to foster good relations between Beijing and the European Union without any interference by a third party, President Xi Jinping told Germany's president in a phone call on Tuesday, state media reported.

Officials and global health experts outside China are anxiously watching a COVID-19 surge there, worried a nation of 1.4 billion people is inadequately vaccinated and may not have the healthcare tools to treat a wave of illness expected to kill more than one million people through 2023.

Beijing's uneasy relationship with mRNA vaccines is all the more relevant as it begins to relax COVID restrictions.

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.

Biotech giant Moderna's first mRNA vaccine facility in Australia is due to open in 2024, and will produce 100 million vaccine doses per year.

The move opens the door to vaccinating the country’s youngest children should the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation agree

But a bigger problem for Beijing may be the number of elderly Chinese who have yet to get their booster shots.