Beijing is introducing vaccine requirements for entering libraries, museums and other public gathering places on Monday, the city government said, as it encouraged older people to get vaccinated.
The city government announced the change on Wednesday, months after many other countries introduced so-called vaccine passports, possibly signaling a pivot to a more aggressive approach to inoculation. Chinese public health experts have said the country, which remains almost entirely isolated from the rest of the world, could reopen when vaccination rates increase. Senior officials have publicly expressed concern about the slowing economy.
But the Chinese government has not introduced any national mandates and has sent mixed messages to local officials it has instructed to increase adoption. When some local governments barred the unvaccinated from entering supermarkets and other public spaces last year, a National Health Commission official criticized them.
Immunization of older Chinese has lagged behind that of other age groups, in part due to skepticism about the safety of vaccines developed in China. The country has not approved any foreign-made shotguns. Strict lockdown measures have also kept the virus at bay, leading to some not feeling the urge to get vaccinated.
Even when authorities began offering a mix of carrot and stick incentives, the elderly resisted. By early May, 82% of people over 60 had received two injections, compared to 89% in the general population. Among older Chinese, the rates were much lower: 51% of those over 80 had received two injections in March, the last time the central government released such figures.
Recent epidemics have shown how dangerous low vaccination rates can be. In Hong Kong, the semi-autonomous city, an outbreak earlier this year made the city’s coronavirus death rate the highest in the world for some time due to the large number of unvaccinated elderly people. Deaths in Shanghai, which has suffered mainland China’s worst outbreak since the start of 2020, were also concentrated among older residents. By the end of April, 62% of Shanghai residents over the age of 60 had received two injections and 38% had received a booster.
Meanwhile, the highly transmissible variant of Omicron continued to elude China’s elimination target.
Cases have started to rise again in Shanghai, a month after its two-month lockdown ended, with dozens of new cases reported on Wednesday. Authorities have launched new rounds of mass testing in most parts of the city, prompting some residents to fear another lockdown. In the western city of Xi’an, schools and many businesses have been closed after an outbreak. And the semi-autonomous city of Macau, the casino hub in the south, shuttered a hotel and shuttered a major shopping mall to contain an outbreak there.
In Hong Kong, where cases have also risen in recent weeks, officials appear to be exploring ways to reopen the financial hub. The government said on Thursday it had suspended a rule temporarily banning airlines from flying into the city if they were carrying a certain number of passengers who tested positive. But city officials have also said they remain committed to reopening the border with the mainland, which is unlikely to happen unless infections can be controlled.