Over 14,000 taxi drivers in Shanghai are being encouraged to take COVID-19 vaccine.

The city’s major taxi companies said free vaccinations began on Tuesday.

QiangshengTaxi said 6,000 of its drivers will have been vaccinated by Friday. Dazhong,Haibo andJinjiang, the other major taxi firms in the city, have also arranged vaccinations that will be completed before the Spring Festival.

Most drivers said they would respond to the government’s recent call for front-line workers to be vaccinated. QiuZhiming, a driver withDazhongTaxi, is waiting for his vaccination.

“It takes about four hours to take it,” Qiu said. “Only those with potential adverse reactions, such as allergies, do not agree. Now that the epidemic seems to be resurging a bit recently (inShijiazhuang,Hebei), I think it’s necessary to do it.”

The city’s major bus company,JiushiGroup, has also started vaccinations for its employees. Currently, almost 20,000 have applied for the vaccine, most of them front-line drivers.