Coronavirus: there was no better time to reopen China after zero-Covid than this winter, top adviser says

Name: First travellers arrive and depart from Beijing as China reopens international borders
Uploaded: 2023-01-09T09:00:12.000Z
Duration: 3 min 47 s
Description: First travellers arrive and depart from Beijing as China reopens international borders

Liang Wannian acknowledges elderly population was harmed but says immunity would have been weaker before or after the December opening

He says the policy adjustment was made actively and not because China had no choice

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People look after their elderly relatives lying on stretchers and receiving intravenous drips at the Changhai Hospital hall in Shanghai on January 3. Photo: AP

Phoebe Zhang

Published: 5:00pm, 9 Jan 2023Updated: 5:31pm, 9 Jan 2023

The top adviser shaping China’s coronavirus response insists winter was the best time for the country to reopen from zero-Covid when considering vaccination uptake and waning immunity, according to his interview with state broadcaster CCTV.

Liang Wannian, the leader of the Covid-19 expert response team under the National Health Commission, acknowledged that the opening-up had harmed the elderly population in China, causing many deaths and severe cases, because the virus had spread too widely and too fast.

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First travellers arrive and depart from Beijing as China reopens international borders

But he stressed that, contrary to popular belief, opening up in winter was better than in summer because the protection provided by vaccination last summer was not strong enough but if delayed until next summer, the immunity of Chinese would have waned.

“At that time [last summer], we were not able to achieve the desired level of protection for the entire elderly population. The overall national vaccination rate for the elderly was relatively low, so we took advantage of these window periods to further strengthen the vaccination of the elderly population,” Liang told CCTV on Sunday.

Even the coming summer was not ideal given the waning immunity from vaccination, he said.

Liang Wannian defended the timing of China’s reopening after zero-Covid and said a shortfall in China’s medical resources was inevitable, a situation other countries also faced. Photo: Simon Song

“June and July is the best time, with few respiratory diseases, but in June and July it is also the time when the protection of active immunity from vaccination in our elderly population is decreasing,” Liang said.