Corona pandemic: Beijing withdraws compulsory vaccination

In Beijing, there is no vaccination requirement for public places such as gyms and museums. Authorities made an unusual backtrack shortly after the new rule was announced.

So no vaccinations for visiting museums, libraries, gyms, cinemas and concerts in Beijing after all. The authorities have the ARD confirms that residents of the Chinese capital can still only visit public buildings and events with a negative PCR test and a green code in the Corona app.

The authorities may have reacted to the fact that many people had expressed their displeasure with the plans on the Internet – an unusual retreat in the authoritarian People’s Republic, where there is no freedom of expression.

Millions of older people unvaccinated

The original announcement that only vaccinated citizens would be allowed to enter certain places in Beijing was a first in the People’s Republic. So far, the country has largely relied on voluntary vaccinations. Only domestic Covid-19 vaccines such as Sinopharm and Sinovac are approved in China. These protect against severe courses and death – but not as well as mRNA vaccines such as those from BioNTech or Moderna.

A major problem in China: Millions of old people are still not vaccinated, the most vulnerable group. The most recent outbreaks in the country almost exclusively killed old, unvaccinated people.

Hard lockdowns again and again

For more than two years, China has been trying to keep the number of cases low with closed borders, travel bans, mass tests, forced isolation and tough lockdowns for the smallest outbreaks. In view of new, highly contagious omicron variants of the corona virus, this is much more difficult than at the beginning of the pandemic.

The more than 25 million people in the economic metropolis of Shanghai were not allowed to leave their homes in April and May. After the end of the exit restrictions at the beginning of June, the numbers in the city have recently risen again, and more and more housing estates are now in lockdown again. There are other mass tests. People in Shanghai fear that even more residents could soon be affected by the tough restrictions.