Imported HPV vaccines become available in mainland China

Human papillomavirus (HPV) describes a large group of related viruses that cause warts. These can be harmless, but genital infections in women can lead to cervical cancer. Two types of HPV vaccines are now available (in Chinese) in mainland China, after approval from China’s Food and Drug Administration.
- Cervarix, developed and manufactured by British pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline, first entered the Chinese market in July last year.
- It can protect against HPV type 16 and HPV type 18 viruses, which account for 70 percent of the causes of cervical cancer.
- People aged 9 to 25 are eligible for this vaccine.
- It costs about 2,000 yuan ($333).
- Gardasil 4 is developed and manufactured by U.S. pharmaceutical company Merck & Co.
- It can effectively prevent several types of less common HPV viruses.
- People aged 20 to 45 are eligible for this vaccine.
- It costs about 2,500 yuan ($416).
Social media reactions to the vaccines’ availability were generally positive. One typical response (in Chinese) was: “I am spending money to buy insurance. This is not expensive.”
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Live broadcasting service Waterdrop came under fire after a citizen journalist exposed its 657-camera network of surveillance cameras installed across Beijing — in places such as classrooms, restaurants, stores, and gyms — with the footage of unsuspecting people streamed publicly to its viewers.
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A group led by the People’s Daily announced the contenders for the 2017 “Character of the Year and Word of the Year.” Not surprisingly given the source, many of the contenders have positive connotations. Among the finalists are the characters for “share” and “strong” (享 xiǎng and 强 qiáng), and, in the word category, “new era” (新时代 xīnshídài) and “artificial intelligence” (人工智能 réngōngzhìnéng).
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