China couldn’t delay its pivot from Covid Zero, avoiding the frigid winter when respiratory viruses circulate easily, because protection levels from previous vaccination would have waned, according to Beijing’s senior Covid adviser.
(Bloomberg) — China couldn’t delay its pivot from Covid Zero, avoiding the frigid winter when respiratory viruses circulate easily, because protection levels from previous vaccination would have waned, according to Beijing’s senior Covid adviser.
The best time to reopen would have been June or July 2023, since the summer is more forgiving, said Liang Wannian, an epidemiologist-turned senior official leading China’s Covid response, in an interview with state television on Monday. However, immunity generated from vaccinating the high-risk elderly would have ebbed, he said.
The summer of 2022 wasn’t a good time to reopen since elderly vaccination rates then were low, he said. Immunization has since climbed to 80%, offering more protection, he said.
The interview is the latest effort by the Chinese government to shape the narrative around the dismantling of its extensive Covid restrictions at a pace that shocked its own citizens and experts outside of the country. The move ushered in an avalanche of infections, estimated to reach nearly 37 million a day in December, and led to overwhelmed hospitals, drug shortages and mounting deaths.
China started making major changes to its Covid Zero approach before the mass protests that outsiders have claimed forced President Xi Jinping to abandon his signature policy, according to an article published by the state news agency Xinhua. China was fine-tuning its Covid control policies when top communist party leaders decided to rein in excessive controls such as lockdowns and mass testing in the first significant easing of Covid Zero, the article said.
Vaccination rates remain an issue for some groups in China. While 86% of people aged 60 or above have been fully vaccinated, the rate drops to 65.8% for those 80 and older. Booster uptake is much lower for this most vulnerable age group, at around 40%, health officials said in late November.
China isn’t an exception in enduring a hospital squeeze, Liang said in response to a question about the government’s seeming lack of preparation for the pivot. The priority now is to make sure high-risk groups get timely medical care when resources are relatively tight, he said.
“Globally, no country can dare say they are ready,” he said. “It’s inevitable for all sorts of problems to arise.”
More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com
©2023 Bloomberg L.P.