Coronavirus in China: Beijing urges new vaccination drive as next Covid wave looms

China’s top health agency urges elderly and vulnerable groups to get vaccinated ahead of cooler autumn weather
Highly transmissible Omicron subvariant XBB is now the dominant strain of the virus in China

Coronavirus China

Sylvie Zhuangin Beijing

Published: 6:44pm, 2 Aug 2023

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China’s national health agency has begun a new vaccination drive for the elderly ahead of a possible Covid-19 wave in the autumn and winter, state-run Xinhua reported on Tuesday.

Since the highly transmissible Omicron subvariant XBB became the dominant strain of the virus circulating in China, the State Council’s Joint Prevention and Control Mechanism has called for prioritising vaccinating people aged 60 and above ahead of the colder weather, Xinhua said.

XBB poses greater risks to the elderly and people with lower immunity because of its higher transmissibility and strong immunity escape, according to the new work plan published on the National Health Commission’s (NHC) website.

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Last winter, many elderly Chinese – mostly unvaccinated – were caught as a new wave of the virus swept across the country, soon after Beijing abandoned its zero-Covid policy. Many hospitals and funeral homes were overwhelmed as a result.

By the spring, the highly contagious XBB subvariant had become the dominant form of the virus in China, according to the NHC. A mass infection was likely to occur in the Chinese population because it had weaker neutralising serum antibodies to fight XBB, the authorities said.

After dropping its strict zero-Covid policy, Beijing began promoting drives to vaccinate the population, with “positive progress” to vaccinate more than 1.3 billion people nationwide, the plan said.

Still, vaccination rates for the elderly – a vulnerable group at higher risk for infections – were far from sufficient ahead of the previous winter wave, with only about 70 per cent of the targeted group having received all three doses of a Covid-19 vaccine, according to official data in December. The rate dropped to around 40 per cent for those aged 80 and above.

In China, many elderly lack the ability to make informed healthcare decisions due to limited health literacy or lack of support from health workers.

Beijing’s work plan also aims to protect adults below the age of 60 with severe underlying health conditions or weakened immune systems.

The groups with higher risks of infections are eligible for the latest XBB antigen vaccines if they have already received all three doses of Covid-19 vaccines, or have been infected previously, according to the plan.

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The vaccine targeting XBB was developed by the biomedical company WestVac Biopharma and the West China Medical Centre at Sichuan University, according to People’s Daily.

Beijing hailed the vaccine as the “world’s first” to contain the viral strains including XBB, and approved it in June for emergency use, People’s Daily reported.

The vaccine is expected to be free to the public, since the document released on Tuesday made no mention of changes to Beijing’s previous policy to ensure Covid vaccines were free for all Chinese, with expenses covered by pools from public finance and medical health insurance.

The work plan also urged increased vaccination rates for the elderly through a more active public health campaign, and called on people to take the vaccines voluntarily.