China is blocking itself in the Corona crisis
Created: 05/22/2022, 11:09 am
From: China.Table
An elderly man in Beijing gets his corona vaccination at home: China's vaccination rate among the elderly is too low.
© Chen Zhonghao/Imago/Xinhua
China's government has no problems with draconian curfews, but is reluctant to make vaccinations compulsory for the elderly.
There is also a lack of staff for a large vaccination campaign
The vaccination rate for people over the age of 60 in China is alarmingly low.
Only every second person over 80 is fully vaccinated.
Many older people often reject the corona vaccinations for fear of side effects.
China's authorities stand in each other's way, blocking a successful vaccination campaign.
This article is
available to IPPEN.MEDIA
as part of a cooperation with the
China.Table Professional Briefing -
China.Table
first published it
on May 16, 2022.
Beijing – China is putting enormous capacity into maintaining its zero-corona policy.
Lockdowns and mass testing are taking a heavy toll on the economy.
Tens of millions of people are locked away in their homes or in quarantine centers — often against their will.
Against the background of the draconian measures and the severity with which China's authorities are implementing their zero-corona policy, it is therefore surprising that the Chinese vaccination campaign, almost two years after it started, is still, at least officially, voluntary.
There is no general vaccination requirement.
And this despite the fact that the proportion of unvaccinated people is still quite large, especially among older people.
According to the National Health Commission, among those over 60, more than 100 million are not yet boosted.
Almost 42 million people are not yet vaccinated.
Vaccination readiness continues to decrease with age: The percentage of seniors who have received their first dose is
88.8 percent for people in their 60s,
86.1 percent for those in their 70s and just
58.8 percent for people over the age of 80.
China's vaccination gap: The problems started early
The reasons why China has such a dramatically poor vaccination record in those age groups that are at particularly high risk are complex.
When the pandemic began, the government immediately implemented strict curfews.
When the vaccination campaign started, the country was largely free of corona.
That's why the authorities decided to vaccinate the working population first - and only then the elderly.
Many seniors saw no benefit from the vaccine because there were hardly any infections anyway.
At the same time, the government has never been able to allay fears about the possible side effects and risks of the vaccines.
Local practitioners encounter many concerns and reservations.
"Old people often have cardiovascular problems or diabetes and are therefore concerned that the vaccination could harm them," a social worker in Beijing's Chaoyang district recently described
the situation on the vaccination front to the Chinese business
magazine Caixin .
"Because we have to adhere to the principle of voluntary vaccination, we are also not in a position to force anyone.
All we can do is call them again and again," said the helper.
China's elderly: Pressure to be vaccinated, especially on employed and socially active people
The science author Leng Zhe sees another problem: Seniors have less "close-knit social networks" than younger population groups and are therefore not exposed to such great vaccination pressure.
There is no legal obligation to vaccinate in China.
However, most employers, schools and associations have issued appropriate rules that make vaccinations mandatory in practice.
Just not for the elderly.
So far, seniors have not felt any pressure to be vaccinated.
They simply do not come into contact with Corona or vaccination campaigns.
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According to
Caixin
, an interesting effect can therefore be observed: In cities where there is a corona outbreak, the willingness of the elderly to vaccinate suddenly increases rapidly.
But then China's zero-corona policy of all things often stands in the way of a quick vaccination.
"Officials tasked with improving vaccination rates are typically the same people tasked with ensuring that the situation is quickly brought under control in the event of an outbreak," writes
Caixin
.
In other words, the staff at vaccination centers will be withdrawn, for example, for the mass tests running in many cities.
More than 20 provinces are currently struggling with acute outbreaks.
As a result, the work of many medical professionals has shifted from vaccinations to tests.
Some regions have noisy
Caixin
even put their vaccination campaigns on hold.
China: Many sick and dead feared at the end of the zero-Covid policy
Scientists from Fudan University come to a clear conclusion in a new study.
According to their analysis, published this week by the scientific journal Nature Medicine, there could be 112 million symptomatic infections and up to 1.5 million deaths within six months if China completely abandons its zero corona policy overnight.
The intensive care units would be overwhelmed: the need would be 15.6 times higher than the capacity.
In a worst-case scenario, the highly contagious omicron variant would have the potential to lead to 5.1 million hospital admissions.
1.5 million people could die.
The researchers also show how the number of dead and sick could be reduced with an adapted strategy.
Vaccination played a “key role” in this – including boosters and campaigns for older people over 60, as well as antiviral therapies and contact restrictions.
There must be a combination because none of the proposals alone would be able to reduce the number of deaths to the level of normal flu outbreaks (88,000 deaths), the authors write.
"Whether or for how long a zero-Covid policy can be maintained is questionable."
By Jörn Petring and Gregor Koppenburg.
Jörn Petring
and
Gregor Koppenburg
have been living as freelance authors in Beijing for several years.
They have also been reporting from there for China.Table since the beginning of 2021.
This article appeared on May 16, 2022 in the
China.Table Professional Briefing
newsletter - as part of a cooperation, it is now also available to the readers of the IPPEN.MEDIA portals.
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