Covid-19: in China, immunity in force
Audio 02:31
A woman in a wheelchair is pushed past a Chinese coronavirus vaccine promotion booth in Beijing on Friday April 9, 2021. AP - Ng Han Guan
By: Stéphane Lagarde Follow
6 mins
To make up for the delay in vaccination, the health authorities have shifted into high gear.
Slogans, posters and even small gifts are distributed to anti-Covid injection volunteers.
560 million Chinese are due to receive their two doses of vaccine by next summer.
Reportage.
Publicity
Vaccination in song, on television, in advertising, in television news as well, but especially as close as possible to the inhabitants.
On the walls of Beijing, the large white characters on a red background of the propaganda banners speak only of this: "
Come quickly and get vaccinated!"
".
Small table on the sidewalk, a poster with a drawing of a syringe on the grid of this residential complex ...
It's free and it's easy, says this employee of a neighborhood committee.
“
It's very simple,
” she said, “
you just have to bring your ID and your cell phone to register for the vaccination.
Actually, we just need your phone number.
Almost 2,000 people check in here every day.
"
As of mid-March, only 65 million Chinese were vaccinated.
To catch up, the government's objectives are reflected directly on the information boards of the residences.
Green color for 80% vaccination, yellow for more than 40% and red below.
In this gymnasium of the 2008 Olympics, even foreigners are accepted.
Edouard, 29, hopes to be able to travel this summer, after weeks of hesitation, he has finally taken his dose.
“
I refused several times for lack of information.
But people from the government called my girlfriend and they reassured us.
I chose Sinopharm for my first dose,
”he says.
Telephone reminders of the district committees in a vaccination campaign that is moving forward with the determination of a combine harvester.
Neighborhoods by neighborhood, residence by residence… With bonuses… “
We distributed ice cream to future vaccinated people
”,
says this registrar for the Wangfujin district, wearing his party pin at the buttonhole.
Further on, near the workers' stadium, these are vouchers for food products, explains this residence guard.
“
They give eggs to people over 60 who want to be vaccinated
.
Young people are not entitled to it.
For the first dose, they are eggs;
and for the second, a packet of flour!
It shows that our country cares about the elders.
We want to protect them.
They are encouraged to be vaccinated.
"
Small gifts to reach 40% of vaccinated before the end of June, in a country of "zero Covid" where vaccination is not obvious and where history has been marked by scandals around the vaccine.
10 million doses must be administered each day throughout the country.
The idea is to achieve collective immunity - 70% of people vaccinated by the end of this year and before the Olympic Games in the winter of 2022.
And if the phone calls are not enough, some "danwei" - work units - make their employees understand that it will soon be difficult to move or open a store without the vaccine.
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