What is driving China towards its coronavirus vaccination targets?
- The national inoculation campaign got off to a slow start but has picked up speed, with millions getting the shots each day
- Various factors have combined to send members of the public in their droves to vaccination centres
This is the fifth in a series about China’s plans to reopen its borders to the world amid the Covid-19 pandemic. Here, Zhuang Pinghui explores how the goal of inoculating 560 million people by the end of this month has come within reach.
There had been no local cases for months and she usually only left the house to buy groceries from open-air markets – an activity she felt was low-risk enough that mask-wearing was just a formality.
She changed her mind about getting vaccinated weeks later when three residents were infected in a new outbreak in the city. Others felt the same. She went to the vaccination centre three times to get a shot – all to no avail.
“I arrived before 10am each time, but there were at least 500 people ahead of me,” she said. “Some elderly women had been queuing as early as 5am … There were not enough vaccines for everyone.”
Similar scenes played out across the country, with people overcoming their initial reluctance or ambivalence to line up for the jabs. Some even travelled to other cities to get the shots.
That flood of interest is one of the reasons why China is firmly on track to reach the high vaccination rates it needs to reopen the country’s borders.