China Aims to Boost Elderly Vaccination Amid Reopening Pressure
China Aims to Boost Elderly Vaccination Amid Reopening Pressure
(Bloomberg) — China said it would bolster vaccination among its senior citizens, a move regarded by health experts as crucial to reopening an economy stuck in an endless loop of harsh Covid Zero curbs amid the worst outbreak since the start of the pandemic.
Authorities plan to push shots harder in places like nursing centers, while making those unwilling to get inoculated provide a reason for their refusal, according to a statement Tuesday from the National Health Commission. The government will use big data to identify elderly people who need the vaccine, the statement said.
While more than 90% of China’s 1.4 billion people have been vaccinated with two shots — a relatively high percentage globally — the numbers decline with age, with the figure dropping for especially people over the age of 80. Only 65.7% of over 80-year-olds are fully vaccinated and just 40% have received booster shots. About 86% of those aged 60 and above have completed two shots.
The low elderly vaccination rate is viewed as a roadblock to opening up, like the rest of the world. Authorities fear mass infection among unprotected seniors could overwhelm the nation’s health-care infrastructure, yet haven’t done enough to persuade the vulnerable group to come forward for inoculation. While cash incentives and insurance for “vaccine accidents” have been offered by local officials to dispel hesitancy, the central government has forbidden the use of mandates, which have been effective in raising vaccine coverage in other countries.
China’s Covid Zero policy has increasingly come under pressure, with protests against the punishing regime erupting in cities from Beijing to Shanghai and Chengdu to the far western outpost of Kashgar. Frustrated citizens took to the streets last weekend, urging an end to the curbs. Besides bringing misery to tens of millions of people across the country, the restrictions have also disrupted businesses and slowed growth in the world’s second-largest economy.
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