Coronavirus: China rolls out second boosters drive for high-risk groups as zero-Covid shift sparks surge fears

Name: ‘All my colleagues are infected’: Beijing residents say Covid cases surging as pandemic rules ease
Uploaded: 2022-12-14T11:00:18.000Z
Duration: 4 min 53 s
Description: ‘All my colleagues are infected’: Beijing residents say Covid cases surging as pandemic rules ease

Focus will be on those aged 60 or over and the immunocompromised, with priority given to a mix-and-match approach

More than two-thirds of over-80s and about 30 per cent of those above 60 have yet to receive their first booster shot

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The vaccine status of China’s elderly is a worry, with Omicron and its many subvariants expected to sweep through the population following a shift in the country’s zero-Covid policy. Photo: Reuters

Josephine Ma

Published: 7:00pm, 14 Dec 2022Updated: 7:14pm, 14 Dec 2022

China has rolled out second boosters for those aged 60 and over or with weak immune systems, as the country braces for massive upticks in cases following a major policy shift away from zero-Covid last week.

Health authorities said priority would be given to heterologous boosting programmes – a mix-and-match approach of second boosters that are different from the primary vaccine shots or the first booster.

04:53

‘All my colleagues are infected’: Beijing residents say Covid cases surging as pandemic rules ease

Several new vaccines, including the inhaled variety from CanSino Biologics and a nasal spray co-developed by the University of Hong Kong, Xiamen University and Beijing Wantai Biological Pharmacy, have been included in the second booster programme for those who received three inactivated vaccines – which is most of the Chinese population.

The advised time gap between the first and second boosters is six months.

This comes with the highly transmissive Omicron variant and its many offshoots expected to sweep through the population after China eased the key components of its zero-Covid policy of lockdowns, mass testing and compulsory quarantine.

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Protecting high-risk populations like the elderly, especially those aged above 80, is a major concern. Data from other countries that relaxed Covid restrictions show most deaths occurred among the unvaccinated over-60s, with those above 80 years old the hardest hit.