Coronavirus: Chinese officials point to ‘profound lesson’ of Hong Kong to urge elderly to get vaccinated

Health commission vice-minister cites high death rate among older people in the city, many of whom were unvaccinated

Vaccination uptake is relatively low among the elderly in mainland China, especially people aged 80 and over

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Mainland Chinese health officials have repeatedly called for older people to get vaccinated. Photo: AP

Published: 7:00am, 19 Mar 2022Updated: 2:00pm, 19 Mar 2022

Mainland Chinese health officials have urged older people to get vaccinated against Covid-19, pointing to the high death rate among elderly Hongkongers in the city’s fifth wave of cases.

“The epidemic in Hong Kong has taught us a particularly profound lesson, as well as an example – that severe cases and deaths will be high if vaccination rates are low,” Wang Hesheng, vice-minister of the National Health Commission, told reporters in Beijing on Friday.

Hospitals and mortuaries are overwhelmed in Hong Kong as it battles its worst Covid-19 outbreak, with more than 20,000 new infections on Friday as it reached the grim milestone of 1 million cases since the pandemic began.

And of the 4,705 people aged over 60 who have died in the latest wave, many were unvaccinated – 72.2 per cent, according to the city’s Centre for Health Protection

“The example in Hong Kong is that there is a big difference between vaccination and non-vaccination,” Wang said. “I’ve noticed about 200 deaths of elderly people per day recently – we must make haste [and get vaccinated] or we will regret it.”

More than 87 per cent of the population has been fully vaccinated on the mainland, but the rate among the elderly is relatively low, especially among the most vulnerable – people aged 80 and over.

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