Beijing says top leaders received Chinese vaccines, in bid to increase uptake

BEIJING • China's Covid-19 vaccines are safe and have been given to leaders of the state and ruling Communist Party, officials said yesterday, as Beijing steps up efforts to allay public concerns about safety that risk hampering its vaccination drive.

"China's state and Party leaders have all been vaccinated against Covid-19 with domestically made shots," said Dr Zeng Yixin, deputy head of the National Health Commission. In China, "state and Party leaders" is a specific category of top officials at the national and deputy national level that would include President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang.

Dr Zeng's comment, which did not specify when officials received the jab nor how many doses they were given, came about two years after the country launched its Covid-19 vaccination drive.

Experts and officials have warned that the lower vaccination rate among the elderly would likely squeeze health resources if the virus spreads widely.

It will also render China less ready to emerge from its "dynamic Covid-zero" policy that includes strict quarantine requirements for international travellers and various curbs on people's movement and local businesses in domestic areas with clusters of cases.

The country has achieved an 89.7 per cent vaccination rate and given about 56 per cent of its 1.41 billion population a booster dose, but only 61 per cent of those aged above 80 completed their primary vaccination.

More aggressive pushes by frontline officials, including limiting the unvaccinated's access to public venues, triggered online backlash and were quickly reversed.

A major concern among the unvaccinated is the safety of shots being used in China, with anecdotes of severe disease post-vaccination stirring fear online and criticism over the lack of transparency from the government and Chinese vaccine makers.

"Covid-19 vaccines do not cause leukaemia or diabetes, nor do they affect genetic development, cause tumour metastasis or antibody-dependent enhancement, and those are irresponsible, false information on the Internet," said Dr Wang Fusheng, an infectious disease expert at a hospital affiliated with the Chinese military.

The rate of hospitalisation for diabetes and leukaemia were similar during 2018-2022, Dr Wang told a news conference.

The most used Chinese shots were made by Sinovac and Sinopharm.

The country has yet to approve foreign-made Covid-19 products.

REUTERS