China pushes elderly vaccination as reopening pressure grows

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. But it stopped short of announcing mandates that helped raise inoculation rates in other countries.
Instead, officials vowed to push shots harder in places like nursing centres, and make those unwilling to get inoculated provide a reason for their refusal, according to a statement from the National Health Commission (NHC). The government will also 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 are fully vaccinated — a relatively high percentage globally — the numbers decline with age, with the figure dropping for especially people over the age of 80. Only 65.8% of over 80-year-olds are fully vaccinated and just 40% have received booster shots. About 86% of those aged 60 and above are fully inoculated.
Shares of CanSino Biologics Inc, drugmaker that’s rolling out a vaccine that can be inhaled, jumped as much as 18% in Hong Kong.
The push comes days after protests against the punishing Covid Zero regime erupted 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.
At the briefing, the first by
the top health body since the protests, officials struck a conciliatory tone towards residents unhappy with Covid curbs. Local authorities must respond to and resolve “reasonable” Covid requests from the public in a timely manner while reducing the inconvenience caused by outbreaks, said NHC spokesman Mi Feng. He avoided directly
answering reporters’ questions on the street unrest.