A resident is inoculated at a vaccination site at Yongdinglu Sub-district of Haidian District in Beijing, China, March 14, 2021. Yongdinglu Sub-district has started to inoculate residents aged over 60 with COVID-19 vaccines. Green channels have been set up at the vaccination site and staff will help the elderly to reserve on site and provide related consultation.(Photo: Xinhua)

China is pushing COVID-19 vaccination for the elderly, especially for people aged 80 and above, as clinical data showed 65 percent of the severe COVID-19 cases in China are people aged 60 and above, and 65 percent of the severely ill seniors are not vaccinated, National Health Commission (NHC) said on Tuesday.

Wang Huaqing, chief immunologist at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), said at Tuesday's press conference that the spread of Omicron variant has brought greater harm to seniors as the number of deaths and severe cases of non-vaccinated seniors in some countries has hit the highest level, and it's very necessary for seniors to complete vaccination, and also receive a booster jab, Wang said. 

He told the Global Times that as the protection level of vaccine is decreasing over time, and immune escape of the virus mutations has observed, which requires a booster jab to improve immunity.

China is currently rolling out sequential immunization, mixing different types of vaccines to boost people's immune system. People can also have their booster shots using the same type of vaccine, Wang said.

Lei Zhenglong, deputy head of the NHC's Bureau of Disease Prevention and Control, said that China is pushing vaccination for seniors especially those aged 80 and above. More than 200 million people aged 60 and above have completed COVID-19 vaccination as of Monday.

The clinical data showed that 65 percent of the severe COVID-19 cases in China are people aged 60 and above, and 80 percent of them are also having underlying diseases. Among those severe cases involving seniors, 65 percent are not vaccinated, according to the NHC.

Global Times