Taxi drivers in Guangzhou, Guangdong province, have begun to receive coronavirus vaccine shots, according to Guangzhou Red Cross Hospital.

The hospital will administer 400 to 500 vaccine free shots per day for the first group of about 2,500 taxi drivers within five days.

"After receiving the coronavirus vaccine, drivers and passengers will feel a little more at ease," said Lin Liangrong, a driver who has worked more than 10 years in Guangzhou.

Lin said little time was needed to get the shot.

"It feels like getting a mosquito bite," said Lin, who received the vaccine on Thursday morning.

The first key groups — a total of 1.21 million people in Guangdong, including handlers of cold-chain imported food, workers at quarantine venues, cross-border transport drivers and front-line healthcare and epidemic control personnel — have already been inoculated, according to the Guangdong Health Commission.