Forbidden from university, hospital or supermarket ... Millions of Chinese are threatened with being ostracized from society if they are not vaccinated against Covid-19, according to guidelines adopted by around twenty local communities.
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China, where the coronavirus first appeared at the end of 2019, has already administered more than 1.4 billion doses of its vaccines and plans to fully immunize two-thirds of its population by the end of 2019. 'year.
But many Chinese are not convinced, either that they doubt the effectiveness of the vaccines, or that they do not consider it necessary to do so since the epidemic is practically eradicated in the country.
Vaccination imposed in several cities
But as the more contagious Delta variant circulates in neighboring countries, several cities and counties are trying to impose vaccination on their inhabitants - a move that could herald measures taken at the national level.
In Yunnan, the city of Chuxiong (510,000 inhabitants) announced Wednesday evening July 14 that all citizens over 18 should have received at least one dose of vaccine before July 23.
The recalcitrant "
will not be admitted in public places such as hospitals, retirement homes, schools, libraries, museums, prisons or public transport
", warned the town hall.
One month later, only people who have received two injections will be able to access these places.
Read also: Covid-19: China has exceeded one billion injections
In Henan, Tianhe County has threatened to fire unvaccinated officials by July 20, according to a notice released Monday.
These different measures have been criticized on social networks.
“
First we were told that vaccination was optional and now it becomes compulsory,
” storms a user on the Weibo network.
“
I just had my second dose but this policy looks like an ukase,
” complained another user.
In recent months, several local communities had tried the soft way to convince the Chinese to be vaccinated, in some cases offering vouchers or ... fresh eggs in exchange for an injection.