China Genjot COVID-19 Vaccination For The Elderly Amid A Case Of Daily Infections And Restriction Protests

JAKARTA - China will accelerate COVID-19 vaccination for the elderly, health officials said on Tuesday, aiming to address major barriers to efforts to ease the unpopular "zero-COVID" restrictions.

The move is seen as an important element, in a strategy to relax strict restrictions for nearly three years that have eroded economic growth, disrupting the lives of millions of people.

The National Health Commission (NHC) said it would target more vaccinations in people over the age of 80, reducing to three months' distance between basic vaccinations and booster injections for the elderly.

"Also hope that our elderly friends, especially those over the age of 80, take the initiative and are vaccinated for their personal health protection," said Xia Gang, the NHC official in charge of immunization services.

"Optimizing services and providing more accurate publicity is a priority," he told the briefing.

The NHC said the elderly would get easy access through special priority services, with mobile vaccination vehicles also to be used.

In addition, a publicity campaign will be launched to counter vaccine doubt among the elderly, promoting the benefits of vaccines in preventing severe illness and death, he added.

It is known that China's population aged 60 years and over who had received two doses of the vaccine as of November 11 was recorded at 86.4 percent, up less than one percent since August according to official data.

Meanwhile, recipients of booster injections reached 68.2 percent of the elderly population, up slightly from 67.8 percent three months earlier.

The announcement comes as China grapples with record numbers of cases, as well as rare protests over strict virus-related restrictions that have kept tens of millions of people confined since the pandemic began, citing The National News.

Yesterday, China set a record fifth day of consecutive daily COVID-19 infections, during protests against strict restrictions imposed by the country's government.

China's Health Commission on Monday reported 40,347 new COVID-19 infections on November 27, of which 3,822 symptomatic cases and 36,525 asymptomatic.

That figure is up 556 compared to 39,791 new cases the day before, of which 3,709 infections were symptomatic and 36,082 asymptomatic infections, which China calculated separately.

However, no new deaths were reported compared to the previous day, maintaining deaths at 5,233. As of November 27, mainland China has confirmed 311,624 cases with symptoms.

The demonstrations did not prompt authorities to make other major changes, however, with a commission spokesman saying on Tuesday, efforts would continue to be made to "improve" policies.

Protests erupted over the weekend in several Chinese cities after people blamed COVID-19 restrictions on the deaths of 10 people in a fire in the Urumqi apartment building.