China's HFMD vaccine in use

KUNMING - A 3-year-old toddler on Monday was inoculated against hand-foot-and-mouth disease (HFMD) in Kunming City, Southwest China's Yunnan province, the first in the province to receive the vaccination.

The human diploid cell vaccine developed in China is the first against enterovirus 71 (EV71), a primary cause of the HFMD.

The vaccine prevented 97.3 percent of testers from contracting EV71, according to the Institute of Medical Biology, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, the vaccine developer.

The HFMD is caused by a group of enteroviruses including EV71, which causes heart and lung complications that can lead to death.

It has become one of the most ubiquitous infectious diseases in China due to lack of vaccines. Infants and children under five years are most vulnerable.

From May 2008 to December 2015, China has reported nearly 14 million HFMD cases, of which 3,391 have resulted in fatalities.

China's food and drug watchdog approved production of the vaccine in December.

The first batch of 360,000 vaccines have been transported nationwide with vaccination begun in Beijing, Guangxi and Yunnan.