CHINA said today it would speed up a push to vaccinate people aged 60 and older against Covid-19 after the country posted record daily case numbers in recent days.

Beijing’s National Health Commission (NHC) pledged to “accelerate the increase in the vaccination rate for people over the age of 80, and continue to increase the vaccination rate for people aged 60-79”, adding it would “establish a special working group… to make special arrangements for the vaccination of the elderly against Covid”.

China’s low vaccination rates, particularly among the older population, have long been seen as prolonging Beijing’s no-tolerance approach to Covid, with even small caseloads met with harsh lockdowns and quarantine.

Just 65.8% of people over 80 are fully vaccinated, NHC officials told a press conference today, and China has not yet approved mRNA vaccines for public use.

China logged 38,421 domestic infections today, slightly down from record highs seen over the weekend. – AFP, November 29, 2022.