[Ahead of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics and the politically important 100th anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party in July, officials are now ramping up to vaccinate 40 percent of the population by the end of June and more than 64 percent by the end of the year. China’s National Health Commission said Monday that 140 million doses of vaccines have been delivered and that doses are expected to reach 10 million a day, up from about 3 million.]
In China, where the coronavirus
outbreak has been largely contained since the middle of last year and where
vaccine makers initially focused on exporting doses, the domestic rollout
has been slow, with only about 4 percent of the population vaccinated,
according to health officials.
Ahead of the 2022 Beijing Winter
Olympics and the politically important 100th anniversary of the Chinese
Communist Party in July, officials are now ramping up to vaccinate
40 percent of the population by the end of June and more than
64 percent by the end of the year. China’s National Health Commission said
Monday that 140 million doses of vaccines have been delivered and that
doses are expected to reach 10 million a day, up from about
3 million.
To hit that goal, officials are
mobilizing local districts and neighborhoods, universities, businesses and
schools to persuade wary residents to take one of five Chinese vaccines that
have been approved for use within the country. Villages have erected banners
and sent workers to households to impress upon residents that it is their
national duty to be inoculated, despite misgivings over possible side effects
or the fact that many see no great urgency in being vaccinated, given China’s
low rates of infection from the virus.
Others have offered free packs of
tissues, eggs, flour and grocery coupons in exchange for submitting to the
shots. In Beijing’s Chaoyang district, businesses where more than
80 percent of staffers have been vaccinated were given brightly decorated
certificates to hang up. “Vaccination is good for the country and good for the
people,” the posters read. A Japanese restaurant offered free portions of
chicken wings and dumplings to the first 50 customers who showed they had been
vaccinated.
In Pinggu, a suburb of Beijing,
residents were told that they would receive 50-yuan
($7.60) prizes in cash or merchandise once they had been fully
vaccinated. Other suburbs promised 100-yuan ($15.20) awards for every shot,
according to notices posted online. In the Shijingshan neighborhood, vaccinated
residents were given free entry into all parks — a measure that some Internet
users called “a little stingy.”
The lengths the government has taken
to convince the public of the safety of the Chinese vaccines underscore the
limits of the country’s vaccine diplomacy at home as well as abroad,
where the lack of published clinical trial data from Sinovac and Sinopharm,
among the earliest vaccine makers globally, has dented public confidence.
Over the weekend, China’s Education
Ministry called on colleges and schools to “guide teachers and students”
and “vigorously publicize the positive role of vaccines” to dispel doubts and
“encourage willingness.” State-run China Radio International has advised local
propaganda departments to use “fun and innovative” approaches to persuade
residents.
The campaign has been waged with
sticks as well as carrots, prompting backlash as residents say they are being
forced to receive the vaccinations. In an editorial last week, the official
news agency Xinhua called on Communist Party cadres to “be on
guard” against “crude” measures. Among such steps, colleges have barred
students from graduating if they have not been vaccinated, and some companies
have required all employees to be inoculated, regardless of their personal
health conditions.
In the southern province of Hainan,
village officials in the town of Wancheng apologized after initially mandating
that residents who were not vaccinated would be put on a “blacklist” and barred
from taking public transport or entering local markets.
Issuing a retraction of the policy,
the propaganda department overseeing the town said it still “sincerely urged
residents to respond to the country’s call” and get vaccinated.
Li reported from Seoul.
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