China’s Zero-Covid Policy Drags on Vaccination Drive
By Chun Han Wong, July 25, 2022, WSJ
China’s history of vaccine scandals, as well as a lack of data on the safety and effectiveness of Chinese vaccines on elderly recipients, put many people off taking doses. Official vaccination guidelines have urged caution for people with acute bouts
of chronic disease. The relative success of Mr. Xi’s zero-tolerance strategy—which Beijing portrayed as a point of national pride in contrast with large infection waves in other countries—hasn’t helped either, as many ordinary Chinese feel less
compelled to get vaccinated because of the low risks of contracting Covid-19.
“One of the major reasons for older adults in mainland China to be reluctant to receive vaccination would be the low perceived risk of Covid,” said Ben Cowling, chair professor of epidemiology at the University of Hong Kong’s School of Public
Health.
“I don’t think a vaccine mandate can be justified in a location pursuing dynamic zero Covid,” Mr. Cowling said. “The harms of rare side effects would likely exceed the expected benefits of vaccination in such a scenario.”
Such perceptions flared into public anger in early July, when Beijing municipal authorities announced plans to impose a vaccine mandate that would have blocked unvaccinated people from entering public venues such as cinemas and gyms. The program was
swiftly halted in the face of online anger decrying the plan as an excessive intrusion into people’s lives and questioning the effectiveness of vaccines.
Mr. Xi has warned that China, with its vast population, would suffer what he said were unimaginable consequences if it tried to rely on herd immunity to beat Covid-19. “Even if there is some temporary impact on the economy, we will not put people’s
lives and health in harm’s way, and we must protect the elderly and the children in particular,” he said during a June visit to the central city of Wuhan, the original epicenter of the pandemic.
Such a high-profile commitment to zero-Covid makes it hard for local authorities to try more aggressive methods to increase vaccination rates, Mr. Huang said. “There’s no room for local leaders to maneuver.”
Officials have sought to sway public opinion, such as by dispelling fears of side effects. “Don’t attribute some unrelated diseases to Covid vaccination due to coincidences in timing,” Wang Fusheng, an infectious-disease expert at a Chinese
military-run hospital, said at a Saturday briefing.
Data from China and abroad indicate that approved vaccines provide good protection against severe illness and death from Omicron, Dong Xiaoping, chief virology expert at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, told reporters last week. “
Vaccination, especially the use of booster shots, is still the most effective preventive measure for the elderly and people with underlying diseases,” he said.
Even so, Mr. Dong insisted that China’s existing pandemic controls are effective in dealing with highly transmissible Omicron subvariants.
While many world leaders—including President Biden and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi—have publicly taken doses in trying to encourage citizens to get vaccinated, Mr. Xi and other Chinese leaders haven’t done so. On Saturday, a senior health
official publicly disclosed for the first time that all incumbent top Communist Party and state leaders have been vaccinated with Chinese-made vaccines, but gave no specifics. This “amply demonstrates” the “high degree of trust” that Chinese
leaders have in domestically developed vaccines, the official said.
If China wishes to step up its domestic vaccination drive, senior leaders should issue clear and firm messaging on the need for ordinary Chinese to get vaccinated and boosted, said Mr. Huang.
For now, Mr. Xi seems set to keep stringent measures in place ahead of the twice-a-decade party congress due in the fall, where he is expected to secure a third term as party chief—departing from the 10-year tenure that his predecessor served. Even so,
Beijing could be forced into changing course should China suffer a significant worsening of Covid-19 outbreaks.
“There’s a Chinese saying: Circumstances overpower people,” Mr. Huang said. “Maybe they can control developments in the political world, but they may not be able to control the trajectory of the virus in the biological world.”
https://www.wsj.com/articles/chinas-zero-covid-policy-drags-on-vaccination-drive-11658745899
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