How China wants to persuade millions of older people to get vaccinated

China's authorities are even trying to make a vaccination against the corona virus palatable to everyone over 60 with gifts of money. The country is being overwhelmed by a corona wave after the zero-Covid strategy was lifted, and severe cases seem to be increasing among the elderly. But his friends are still concerned about rolling up their sleeves for the shot, says 64-year-old Li Liansheng: They are alarmed by reports of fever, blood clots and other side effects of the Chinese vaccines.

"When people hear about such incidents, they may be less willing to get vaccinated," said Li, who had himself vaccinated before catching Covid-19. He was ill for ten days and is still suffering from a bit of a sore throat and cough. But he compares the course of his illness to a “normal cold” with a slight fever.

Others are worse off. Many hospitals in China are currently inundated with feverish, gasping patients – mostly the elderly. For more than two years, China's zero-Covid policy with massive lockdowns, rigid quarantine regulations and mass tests had kept the corona numbers low. But at the beginning of December, the People's Republic abruptly swung around and accepted that the population would be infected.

China's national health agency has reported just six Covid-related deaths so far this month, bringing the official tally to 5,241. However, this contradicts numerous reports from families who have lost relatives. Experts even expect one to two million corona deaths in China by the end of 2023.

China also only includes deaths from pneumonia or lung failure in its statistics, head of the infectious diseases department at Beijing's No. 1 University Hospital, Wang Guiqiang, said last week. This unusually narrow definition excludes many deaths that other countries typically attribute to Covid-19.

Li says he is considering getting a second booster shot because of the vaccination campaign. "As long as we know the vaccine doesn't have any major side effects, we should use it."

Neighborhood associations have been instructed to locate and track the health of everyone aged 65 and over. They are doing what state media calls "ideological work" - getting residents to persuade elderly loved ones to get vaccinated. In Beijing's Liulidum district, everyone with 60 to 500 yuan (about 67.5 euros) is promised if they get the two-dose basic immunization and then a booster shot.

According to the Health Commission on December 23, the number of daily vaccinations nationwide has more than doubled to 3.5 million. But that's just a fraction of the tens of millions recorded per day in spring 2021.

Elderly fear the potential side effects of China-made vaccines: the government has not released the results of tests on people aged 60 and over. Li tells of a 55-year-old friend who suffered from a fever and blood clots after being vaccinated. While it is not certain that the vaccine caused this, his friend was reluctant to have a second injection given. "It also means the virus keeps mutating," Li said. "How do we know the vaccines we take are useful?"

Some hesitate because they suffer from diabetes, heart problems and other pre-existing conditions. Experts consider vaccinations for these patients to be even more urgent because the risks from Covid are in most cases more serious than those from potential side effects. So far, many older people have not felt any particular pressure to get vaccinated, because the zero-Covid policy meant there were simply few infected and sick people for a long time. Fewer antibodies developed against the virus in China. "Now families should make their elders understand that infection can cause serious illness and even death," said Jiang Shibo of the medical faculty of Fudan University in Shanghai.

According to the health authority, more than 90 percent in China have been vaccinated, but only two-thirds of those over 80. According to the 2020 census, the country has 191 million people aged 65 or older - a group that alone includes the 8th most populous country in the world. Requests from journalists to visit vaccination centers are routinely denied in China. Two reporters who briefly entered such centers were turned away when employees found out who they were.

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