Seniors in China should be vaccinated against COVID-19, senior Chinese medics said on Friday, March 18, adding that the deaths of older people in the last wave to Hong Kong serve as a lesson for the mainland.
"The outbreak of the epidemic in Hong Kong is a much deeper lesson for us, an example of which, when senior vaccinations are low, there can be a high rate of serious cases and deaths," said Wang Hesheng, deputy director of the National Health Commission. stated in the newsletter.
"We don't regret it if it's too late," he said.
Only 19.7 percent of people over the age of 80 in China received revaccination against COVID-19 on March 17, and only 50.7 percent of this age group completed basic vaccinations, according to Zeng Yixin, another deputy director and NHC.
Populated Hong Kong has seen the world's number of deaths per million people in recent weeks - more than 24 times more than Singapore's counterparts - largely due to undocumented elderly people. vaccinated due to a more portable variant of Omicron burglary in homes for the elderly. Chinese officials have made it clear that China will not immediately reject a "dynamic check-in" policy aimed at immediately covering any outbreak or eliminating quarantine requirements for most international passengers.
These stringent measures have helped mainland China keep its official death toll static since 2020, with only two deaths reported in 2021 and fewer by this year.
For mainland Chinese between the ages of 60 and 69, revaccination received 56.4 percent, while for people aged 70 to 79, it dropped to 48.4 percent, Zeng said.
He added that there are still 52 million people over the age of 60 who have not yet completed the basic vaccination.