Health agency aims to halt forced inoculations

The National Health Commission will take action after discovering that some regions in China have wrongly made COVID-19 vaccination compulsory for all residents that meet requirements, officials from the commission said on Sunday.

Some areas have said that all those who are eligible should be vaccinated, with a few even forcing people to get injections, but such forceful behavior should be resolutely rectified, commission spokesman Mi Feng said at a news conference held by the State Council’s interagency task force for COVID-19 response.

Wu Liangyou, deputy director of the commission’s disease prevention and control bureau, said all regions in China are now conducting COVID-19 vaccinations under the leadership of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council, China’s Cabinet.

“People who are eligible for COVID-19 vaccines should receive them according to their own will,” Wu said.

Some provinces and regions have taken effective measures on the basis of their own situations and have accumulated experiences during the process, but there are also some places making vaccinations rigidly uniform and allowing for no flexibility.

“Although not a common issue, it does reflect that the organization and management of the vaccination process in some regions is not delicate or accurate,” Wu said.

In response to such behavior, he said the commission will provide regions with stronger guidance on vaccine distribution.

More training will also be offered to medical workers responsible for conducting vaccinations.

“We’ll also guide people to reasonably consider adverse reactions from vaccinations and improve their confidence in domestically manufactured vaccines,” Wu said.