Chinese medical experts say the zero-COVID strategy buys time to vaccinate more people.


Shanghai, a city of 25 million, has been closed for nearly six weeks to battle China’s biggest coronavirus outbreak, but the government has ignored criticism of its “zero COVID” strategy, saying it remains the best option.

In correspondence published by the peer-reviewed medical journal The Lancet last Friday, a team of medical experts from the city said Shanghai’s vital role in the national economy made the lockdown inevitable.

“As a leading economic center and an open city in China, Shanghai has huge exchanges with other cities and regions in the country, so the spread of the virus from other places…may have serious consequences. ‘unimaginable gravity,’ said the team, which includes Zhang Wenhong, an adviser to Shanghai authorities on handling COVID-19.

Shanghai’s “vibrant” zero COVID policies would “overcome the weak links of the immunological barrier in people across the country”, they said, pointing out that about 49 million people aged 60 and over more were still not vaccinated.

New vaccines specifically targeting Omicron variants may be available soon, but China must also overcome reluctance to get vaccinated, especially in the elderly and vulnerable, they added.

Dynamic COVID-zero was still needed to prevent a “street” on China’s health resources, according to a separate comment published in the official journal of the Chinese Center for Disease Prevention and Control and co-authored by the senior government adviser in subject of health, Liang Wannian.

“The dynamic COVID-zero strategies adopted by China have bought a valuable window of time for the future,” he said, adding that the country should “seize the opportunity” to develop more medicines and vaccines. .



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