An elderly resident receives a shot of COVID-19 vaccine at home in Dongcheng District of Beijing, capital of China, May 10, 2022. Medical workers on Tuesday provided home services to some elderly residents who preferred to receive COVID-19 vaccination at home due to their health conditions. (Xinhua/Chen Zhonghao)

 Chinese health officials on Tuesday once again called on the elderly to get vaccinated, reiterating the high risk of developing severe disease after infection, as the Joint Prevention and Control Mechanism of the State Council issued new guidance for senior citizen vaccination.

As of Monday, more than 3.44 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines had been administered in China, covering nearly 1.35 billion people, Xia Gang, an official from the national disease control and prevention bureau under the National Health Commission said at a press conference on Tuesday.

About 48,400 doses of an inhaled COVID-19 vaccine developed by the CanSinoBIO had also been administered, according to Xia.   

According to Xia, about 1.27 billion people in China had completed full vaccination, accounting for 90.28 percent of the national population. Among them, more than 800 million had accepted booster shots, according to Xia. 

As to the people aged 60 and above, Xia revealed that more than 239 million people had accepted at least one and more than 228 million had completed full vaccination, separately accounting for 90.68 percent and 86.42 percent of the country’s seniors, a total of 181 million had accepted booster shots.

For those aged 80 and above, about 27.4 million people had accepted at least one shot and about 23.6 million people had completed full vaccination, separately accounting for 76.6 percent and 65.8 percent of seniors. 14.5 million of the group had accepted booster shots, Xia said.

The Joint Prevention and Control Mechanism of the State Council had issued new guidance for vaccination for seniors. The national disease control and prevention bureau will work to lead local authorities to promote vaccination among the elderly.

We hope the elderly take the vaccination actively to protect their health, Xia noted.

The guidelines issued Tuesday  aim to further promote vaccination among the elderly in order to reduce of the rate of severe cases, critical cases and deaths following infection among the group, read a document released by the Joint Prevention and Control Mechanism of the State Council.   

Guo Yanhong, another NHC official, said at the Tuesday press conference that people aged 60 and above, especially those aged 80 and above, are one of the three groups who have high risk of developing severe disease should they become infected.   

The other two high-risk groups are people with underling diseases and unvaccinated groups.

“Vaccination can effectively help reduce risk of severe diseases and death. We suggest people who do not have special conditions, especially the elderly , to get vaccinated as soon as possible. We will also enhance the construction of designated hospitals, especially to strengthen the capacity of comprehensive treatment and multidisciplinary medical treatment and the capacity to treat severe patients,”Guo noted.

Global Times