COVID-19: China focuses on new vaccination drive as coronavirus wave looms over nation

The national health agency of China has started a new vaccination drive for the elderly before a possible COVID-19 wave that may sweep the country in the winter and autumn, reported state-run news agency Xinhua.

After the highly transmissible Omicron subvariant XBB emerged as a dominant strain of the virus which has been circulating in the country, the State Council’s Joint Prevention and Control Mechanism appealed for prioritising vaccinating people above the age of 60 ahead of the colder weather, the report said.

XBB has been posing a major risk to the elderly and people with lower immunity because of its ability to escape immunity and its higher transmissibility, as per the new work plan published on the National Health Commission’s (NHC) website.

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Last winter, many elderly Chinese people, most of whom had not received their jab, were caught in the fresh wave of the virus which had swept the nation.

The coronavirus wave came soon after the zero-Covid policy was abandoned by Beijing. As a result, many funeral homes and hospitals were overwhelmed.

China's battle with coronavirus

As per the NHC, the highly contagious XBB subvariant emerged as the dominant form of the virus in the country by the spring.

The authorities stated that the Chinese population was likely to get hit by a mass infection because it had weaker neutralising serum antibodies to fight XBB.

Beijing, after removing its strict zero-Covid policy, started promoting drives for vaccinating the population, with “positive progress” to get more than 1.3 billion people jabbed across the nation, the plan said.

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As per official data published in December, vaccination rates of the aged people were not sufficient ahead of the previous winter wave, as only around 70 per cent of the targeted group had completely received all three doses of the COVID-19 vaccine. For those in the age group of 80 and above, the rate dropped to around 40 per cent.

Many elderly people cannot make informed healthcare decisions in China because of a lack of support from health workers or limited health literacy.

The work plan of Beijing aims to protect people, who are below the age of 60 and have weakened immune systems or severe underlying health conditions. The groups, which have higher risks of infection, are eligible for the latest XBB antigen vaccines if they have received shots of all three COVID-19 vaccines.

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