To stop the protests, China promises to speed up vaccination against covid: how will it do it?

China decided on Tuesday to speed up vaccination of the elderly against covid-19, after two days of historic demonstrations against health restrictions, and in the midst of a heavy police presence which prevented new concentrations in large cities.

China’s National Health Commission pledged in a statement to “accelerate the increase in the vaccination rate of people over the age of 80, and further increase the vaccination rate of people aged 60 to 79.”

This is one of the groups most vulnerable to Covid infections, but also one of the most reluctant to get vaccinated. And the government he did not explain how he will convince them.

Currently, only 65.8 percent of residents over the age of 80 are fully vaccinated, the heads of the National Health Commission told the press.

Elderly Chinese, who lacked any sense of urgency given the country’s low infection rates over the past two years, were not the first to line up for the injection, unlike in other countries.

Some local governments have offered in the past months coupons, gifts or even cash to convince the elderly to get vaccinated.

Therefore, the National Health Commission announced a working group to “strengthen” the vaccination of this group, such as “educate on the importance and benefits of being vaccinated” or on the ease it will be given to obtain booster doses three months later have completed the vaccination schedule.

The limited vaccination coverage of the elderly is one of the arguments of the communist government to justify its rigid health policy, which takes the form of endless confinements, quarantines upon arrival from abroad e almost daily tests for the population.

Improving vaccination rates could offer China just one way out of its “zero covid” policy.

In place for nearly three years, this policy was the target of popular ire at this weekend’s demonstrations, the largest since the 1989 pro-democracy movement.

anger against the government

As a context, the frustration of many with the Chinese political system.

Some have even called for the resignation of President Xi Jinping, recently elected to a third term.

The trigger was a deadly fire last week in Urumqi, capital of the Xinjiang (northwest) region. The work of firefighters would have been hampered by health regulations, arguments that the government denied on Monday.

police cordon

After the weekend protests in many cities of the countrymore demonstrations were planned on Monday eveningwhich ultimately were not carried out due to a heavy police presence, verified AFP reporters in Beijing and Shanghai.

In Shanghai, near the site of protests over the weekend, bar owners told AFP they were ordered to close at 10pm local time for “epidemic control” reasons.

Small groups of police stood at the exits of subway stations.

AFP reporters witnessed how officers arrested four people and then released one. A witness reportedly said 12 police vehicles in 100 metres along the street where the protests were concentrated on Sunday.

“Today the atmosphere is nervous. There are so many police around,” a man in his 30s told AFP late in the afternoon in Shanghai.

Authorities in Beijing prevented further protests on Monday with an impressive police deployment of cars and foot troops.

However, there have been some demonstrations in other places. In Hong Kong, dozens of students gathered to honor the victims of the Urumqi fire.

“Don’t look away, don’t forget,” the protesters chanted.

In Hangzhou, about 170 km southwest of Shanghai, there have been sporadic protests and security measures in the city center, according to images released by social networks and partially geolocated by AFP.

“The authorities take advantage of the covid pretext, but use the excessively stiff blocks to control the Chinese population,” a 21-year-old Chinese protester who has given himself only the surname Chen told AFP.

Ease of restrictions?

The Chinese government is sticking to its zero-covid policy, but there are signs that local authorities they try to soften some rules to contain the mobilizations.

In Urumqi, an official on Tuesday said the city would pay 300 yuan ($42) to every person “with low or no income” and announced a five-month rent moratorium for some families.

In the capital, Beijing, it has been forbidden to padlock the gates of residential areas, the official Xinhua news agency reported on Sunday, a practice that has sparked anger for leaving people cooped up in front of small outbreaks of contagion.

An influential state press commentator suggested that covid controls would be eased further and that the public would “be quiet soon”.

Source: AFP