| LurkerJ said: A bit odd how China isn't enforcing vaccine uptake, considering how draconian their measures are at the moment. Are they waiting for their own mRNA vaccine to materialise? |
I guess the state's enforcement is not as powerful as we're led to believe here in the west.
It's basically the same as here, misinformation, mistrust, fear of the vaccines
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-03-19/why-dont-china-prioritise-elderly-covid-vaccine/100917770
Ms Yao — who lives in China's "Silicon Valley", Shenzhen — said her parents were deterred by "fake news" on social media, which falsely claimed the vaccines were not effective nor safe, and could spread other serious diseases.
It has been reported that posts on the Chinese social media platform WeChat have been spreading the false claim that mRNA vaccines can integrate with a person's DNA and transform recipients into "genetically modified humans".
Bit ironic, since they don't even use mRNA vaccines in China...
Also a different stance from doctors:
Misinformation, or disinformation, is not the only reason elderly people have been left in limbo, and some are unable to be vaccinated due to underlying conditions. That's the situation Yan Zhiming's mother finds herself in, after she was diagnosed with lung cancer last year. In her specific case, her local doctor advised her against being vaccinated while she was undergoing cancer treatment.
In Australia, immunocompromised people are strongly encouraged to get vaccinated, and to consult their doctor regarding timing if they are on immunosuppressants or undergoing chemotherapy.
And other reasons, vaccinate those first that are more likely to catch it instead of vaccinating the most vulnerable first:
Compared with Australia and other Western countries, China adopted a different approach, where the elderly population was not a priority group for the vaccine in the early stages of the pandemic.
Instead, China prioritised people aged between 18 to 60 years who were working in essential services, identifying them as more likely to be infected and spread the virus. China started to roll out vaccines for people aged 60 and above only from March 2021.
George Liu — the China health program director at La Trobe University — said China didn't prioritise elderly people in the first place, due to a lack of scientific data. "The vaccines developed in China were only tested in some developing countries outside of China because of the low prevalence of COVID-19 in China," he said. "Populations in those countries are relatively young, compared to Australia and other Western countries."
