China’s vaccine deal sweeteners

IslamNews – In China, which has largely contained the coronavirus outbreak and made big strides in returning to normal life, many people just don’t feel the urgency to line up for a vaccine. Others are wary of China’s history of vaccine-related scandals, a fear that the lack of transparency around Chinese-made Covid-19 vaccines has done little to assuage.

That’s where the ice cream comes in. In Beijing, vaccinated people get buy-one-get-one-free cones. Elsewhere, local governments have published poems and warned parents that if they refuse a shot, their children’s schooling, future employment and housing were all at risk.

“They say it’s voluntary, but if you don’t get the vaccine, they’ll just keep calling you,” said Annie Chen, a university student in Beijing, who relented after she received two vaccine entreaties from a school counselor in about a week.

The all-out blitz appears to be working. Over the past week, China has administered an average of about 4.8 million doses a day, up from about one million a day for much of last month. The authorities hope that 560 million people will be vaccinated by the end of June — about 40 percent of China’s population.

Despite the surge in vaccinations, China still lags far behind dozens of other countries. Though the country has approved five homegrown vaccines, it has administered 10 shots for every 100 residents. Britain has administered 56 for every 100; the United States, 50.

Source: The New York Times