China insists on its policy of ‘zero COVID’ while trying to resolve one of the weak points of the strategy: the low rate of immunization among the elderly, one of the most vulnerable groups, but also one of the most reluctant to be vaccinated.
The Asian country is currently dealing with the largest outbreaks of the COVID-19 since the beginning of the pandemic, against whom it has applied the same strategy as in the previous two years, massive PCR campaigns, restrictions on mobility and selective or general confinements that this time have been concentrated in the eastern city of Shanghai and in Jilin province (northeast).
Millions of people remain confined to their homes for fear in part that an even greater wave of infections will collapse the health system, a situation that is more likely due to the reservations of the elderly to be vaccinated.
Vaccine refusal
About 40% of elderly Chinese – over the age of 80 – have not received any dose of a flu vaccine. COVID-19 and approximately 50 million people over the age of 60 do not have a complete pattern of vaccinationaccording to March data from China’s National Health Commission.
These figures represent a mole in the apparently successful immunization campaign of Chinawhich has administered 3.303 million doses among its population of 1.4 billion.
Unlike in other countries, older Chinese, who did not feel a sense of urgency given the low levels of infections in the country, were not the first to line up to receive the injection.
Added to the low perceived risk was the fear of the effects of the vaccine among the elderly, many of them with chronic ailments, despite repeated explanations of Chinese health authoritieswho recently referred to these underlying diseases to alert the elderly.
“Most of the elderly have chronic diseases, so if they get infected from coronavirusthe risk of serious illness and death is higher than that of other age groups,” Lei Zhenglong, an expert with the Health Commission, recently warned.
Some local governments have offered discount coupons, gifts or even cash to persuade the elderly to get vaccinated, an urgency that grows more pressing as omicron spreads across China.
The case of Hong Kong
The authorities of China continent are aware of what happened in Hong Kong in recent months: the former British colony, which had kept the pandemic at bay, suffered a wave of COVID-19 from mid-February that caused an average of more than 100 daily deaths last March in the city of 7.4 million inhabitants.
At the start of that wave, only 43% of Hong Kongers over 80, one of the most vulnerable groups, had received at least one dose of the vaccine, resulting in a sudden high mortality rate.
According to data from the state chain CCTV provided this Tuesday, 74% of deaths in Hong Kong for coronavirus occurred among unvaccinated.
The reluctance of the elderly to be vaccinated in Hong Kong, which has remained semi-isolated from the outside, has caused a generational conflict in the city in recent months, with the younger generations blaming the restrictions on the selfishness of their elders. (EFE)
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