China Boosts Virus Vaccination with Incentives

China’s success in controlling the coronavirus outbreak has resulted in a population that seems almost reluctant to get vaccinated. So he’s driving the immunization campaign with incentives: free eggs, store coupons, and discounts on food and other items.

After a slow start, China now administers millions of vaccines a day. On March 26 alone, 6.1 million were put in, and a prominent government doctor, Zhong Nanshan, announced a goal of vaccinating 560 of the country’s 1.4 billion people in June.

The challenge lies both in the magnitude of the campaign and in the need to convince a population that they feel safe from contagion.

When patients began flooding Wuhan hospitals with fever, cough and shortness of breath in late 2019, the government confined this and other cities in Hubei province for more than two months starting in January 2020. Wuhan is considered the epicenter of the pandemic.

Since then, China has controlled the virus through strict border controls and rapid quarantines wherever an outbreak is detected. People can dine at restaurants and the risk of infection is low, so many seem in no rush to get vaccinated.

“I think everyone has a sense of security and comfort, and there is not much of a rush to get vaccinated unless they ask you to,” said Helen Chen, a health care specialist at a Shanghai market research firm.

But China wants to open up as the world tries to return to its pre-pandemic normalcy and Beijing prepares to host tens of thousands of visitors for the Winter Olympics in February 2022. Despite its success with quick closures and With its robust contact tracing system through smartphones, the government also values ​​these measures in the event of an eventual return to normalcy

For now, in big cities like Shanghai and Beijing the government has relied mainly on a continuous message and on offering gifts to convince the population to get vaccinated.

Shopping centers give points in stores or coupons. A temple in the capital gives admission to those who prove they received the vaccine. Shanghai uses buses in its campaign to set up mobile vaccination points.

And then there are the free eggs.

“Good news. Starting today, residents over 60 who have received the first dose of the vaccine will be eligible for five ‘jin’ (2.5 kilos or five and a half pounds) of eggs. The first to arrive will be the first to be seen, ”read a poster from a municipal health center in Beijing.

Wang Feng is too young for that gift from the clinic, but this 25-year-old cook said she got vaccinated because she couldn’t work without her.

“I thought if it worked, I could work too,” he added.

Some have expressed doubts about the efficacy of vaccines, Chinese or not, because of the speed with which they have been developed.

“I don’t think such an effective vaccine can be made so quickly,” said Amy Lu, who works at a university in Shanghai.

The five vaccines that are currently administered in China have an efficacy of between 50.7% and 79.3%, according to the data revealed by the pharmaceutical companies.

This is not to assume that they are worthless, as most experts say that anyone with more than 50% is helpful in controlling the pandemic, as well as avoiding hospitalizations and deaths.