# 3965
While Shanghai and Hong Kong are the economic engines for China, Beijing is the political, educational, and cultural enter of the People's Republic of China.
Which is why, when SARS began to sweep through the Chinese countryside in November of 2002, it was initially of little concern to the Chinese government.
Epidemics in China were common, and often burned themselves out before they were ever identified.
But when SARS cases suddenly started showing up in Beijing, the ruling class of China suddenly took notice. SARS, for the power elite, was hitting a little too close to home.
Which may help explain today’s announcement, that all residents of Beijing are to be offered the H1N1 vaccine. Quite remarkable in that, with a population of 1.3 billion, most of the rest of the country is likely to see little or no vaccine.
Beijing to extend A(H1N1) flu vaccine inoculation
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-11-06 20:34BEIJING: Beijing health authorities said on Friday that they would extend the A(H1N1) flu vaccine inoculation to all the city's 16 million residents as death toll from the epidemic kept rising on the Chinese mainland.
"The city now has 3.63 million dozes of A(H1N1) vaccines," said Zhao Tao, an official with Beijing Public Health Bureau. "Everyone above three years old with registered residence of the city can have free inoculation as long as they want to."
He said more vaccines would be allocated to the city.
Before the latest decision, Beijing gave priority to people more likely to fall victim to A(H1N1) flu, such as students and medical personnel, when handing out the vaccine.
Zhao said as of Thursday, more than 440,000 residents in Beijing had been inoculated with the A(H1N1) flu vaccine and no case of adverse reaction had been reported.
As of Friday, more than 10 deaths from A(H1N1) flu have been reported on the Chinese mainland.
