Beijing plans to boost vaccine uptake for elderly
Health officials also say the unpopular zero-Covid policy will be refined
China yesterday unveiled a plan to boost vaccination rates among the elderly and tackle what it sees as a key barrier to reopening borders and reviving an economy hit by nearly three years of strict Covid-19 controls.
It aims to boost the vaccination rate for people aged 60 and above – particularly over 80 – and reduce severe outcomes including death, amid new outbreaks that shows no sign of slowing.
In Beijing yesterday, top health officials also took aim at local governments for using blunt instruments to curb infections and being opaque with lockdown measures, without explicitly mentioning protests that have taken place across China against the zero-Covid policy.
But state media sent an emphatic message yesterday, that while rules should be refined in line with the State Council’s “20 measures” announced this month, this should not be seen as an opening up – and that the zeroCovid policy was here to stay.
Days after the protests broke out, some local governments have relaxed quarantine and lockdown policies in a bid to ease everyday life, apparently with Beijing’s blessing.
China is one of the last places still pursuing a zero-tolerance policy on Covid-19, which first emerged nearly three years ago in Wuhan.
Most countries have scrapped rules on quarantine, mask wearing and contact tracing to restart their economies after reaching herd immunity by mass infection or vaccination.
“In the next step, we will seriously implement the requirements of the plan, guide local authorities to carefully organise, prepare and improve vaccination services, and do well to provide coronavirus booster shots and vaccination for the elderly,” said Xia Gang, deputy director of the Bureau of Disease Prevention and Control.
In China, 68.7 per cent of people over 60 have had three doses of a coronavirus vaccine, official figures show. For those aged 80 and over, 40.4 per cent have had three shots.
A World Health Organization advisory group has said it was good practice for older people and other vulnerable groups to receive two booster shots – which for most vaccination courses means a total of four shots – for the prevailing Omicron variant.
Beijing’s plan aims to speed up vaccinations for older people with six combinations of Chinesemade vaccines, including those from Sinopharm, Sinovac and Cansino Biologics. It has also cut the waiting period from six to three months for a booster dose.
Authorities have stopped short of a vaccine mandate, but social insurance data will be used to identify people older than 60 to be included in the programme, and a publicity campaign will be rolled out on the safety and effectiveness of the vaccines. The plan also calls for jabs to be given at places where older people can access them, such as care homes.
The country reported 34,860 new coronavirus cases without symptoms in the community on Monday, and 3,561 with symptoms. The National Health Commission, China’s health ministry, does not count asymptomatic cases in its official tally.
The moving seven-day average of new local cases without symptoms is on the rise, indicating that the outbreak is worsening. The figure reached 31,705 on Monday, the highest in November.
While health officials at the press conference acknowledged the pressure on local officials to reduce the number of cases, they warned cadres that they would be held accountable if they continued to expand restrictions and did so without transparency.
“Continued expansion of restrictions needs to be rectified,” said Cheng Youquan, an inspection official at the Bureau of Disease Prevention and Control. “Local party committees and governments must carry out their responsibilities in their areas of jurisdiction and the national pandemic policy strictly.”
Meanwhile, People’s Daily, Xinhua and broadcaster CCTV were among the state media outlets that ran opinion pieces supporting the 20 measures introduced on November 11.
People’s Daily described the new rules as less of a blunt instrument and essential to balancing pandemic control and development. But it also said they did not suggest relaxation, opening up or “lying flat” – meaning doing the bare minimum to get by.
“The 20 improvement measures are important in making pandemic control more scientific and precise. We must neither dial down strict prevention and control because of the 20 improvement measures nor pile measures on top of more measures, [or] resort to one-size-fits-all or simplistic approaches.”
In Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Nanjing and other cities, people have taken to the streets to protest against Covid-19 rules, with the rallies first triggered by a residential fire in Xinjiang region that killed 10 people.
Many in major cities marched out of their housing estates, defying lockdowns imposed by residential committees that do not have the legal power to block residents from leaving their homes.