Can China end its ‘zero COVID’ policy — and avoid a wave of deaths?
Credit: Bloomberg via Gettyafter rare displays of dissent across the country. In recent weeks, people have protested against the government’s policy of quashing outbreaks through strict lockdowns, mass testing, quarantining and travel restrictions — which comes at an increasing economic cost. In the past few days, several cities have, and China’s vice-premier, Sun Chunlan, signalled a more permissive approach to containing the virus, according to news reports.
However, researchers say there are ways to minimize severe disease and deaths when shifting away from zero COVID. One priority should be to ramp up booster vaccination for older people, who are at higher risk of developing severe disease, says Xi Chen, an economist at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, who studies China’s public-health system.Most people in China have received an inactivated-virus vaccine made either by Sinovac or by the state-owned Sinopharm, both based in Beijing.
But so far, just 69% of people in that age category — and only 40% of those aged 80 or older — have received a third dose. “When there is such a strong push for zero COVID, vaccination takes a back seat,” says Cowling. This week, the government announced a plan to increase vaccination among older people, including shortening the time between the second and third doses from six to three months.
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