Higher active immunity in elderly reason for downgrade

Ensuring the health of the elderly is a major priority of the government after it downgraded COVID-19 management from Class A to Class B from Sunday, according to a senior health expert from the National Health Commission.

Liang Wannian, head of the NHC's COVID-19 response expert panel, said in a recent interview with the China Central Television that the optimization of COVID-19 policy is a proactive measure with appropriate timing in view of the virus' lower pathogenicity, the higher active immunity among the public and the higher vaccination rate among elderly people.

"We have great sorrow that some elderly patients are infected or are even in severe condition or die from the epidemic. But we can't deny that the epidemic has spread fast and wide, which has posed tremendous threats to our people's life and health," he said.

"I was sent to Hong Kong in the middle of February 2022 with an expert team and found that 94 percent of deaths were old-age patients. Back then, the vaccination rate in Hong Kong was around 86 percent while the rate was only 15 percent for the elderly. That's the crux, because the vaccination rate on the mainland was also around 80 percent while less than 40 percent for seniors."

He said the vaccination rate among the elderly has risen to 80 percent on the mainland.

People were asking whether it would be a better choice to downgrade the management in June or July this year as there would be a lower incidence rate of respiratory diseases during that period, Liang said. He responded that among those recently vaccinated, their active immunity would have decreased by that time.

"It was also not a good choice to optimize the management in the summer of 2022. At that time, our entire elderly population and our entire booster vaccination levels had not achieved the expected protection effect. The overall rate of vaccination for the elderly was relatively low at that time, so we took advantage of these window periods to further strengthen the vaccination of the elderly," he told China Central Television.

According to Liang, the infection wave came too fast and caused a surge of infections, especially among the elderly who often need to be treated in hospitals. "That's why medical resources are in short supply. However, we've made great efforts to shore things up."

chengsi@chinadaily.com.cn