China’s anti-lockdown protests

#GS-02 Health, International Relations

China’s Zero Covid Policy:

Zero Covid Policies involve complete control and maximum suppression for the elimination of the virus by using aggressive public health measures, such as contact-tracing, social isolation, mass testing, and lockdowns.
As of November 2022, China, Macau, and North Korea are the only major countries still pursuing a zero-COVID strategy.

Although China’s case numbers are low compared with global figures, the authorities have insisted on a “war of annihilation” against the virus.
The major reason behind these protests are the deep-seated frustration and scepticism over the endless lockdowns, mass testing and quarantines Chinese people have recently endured.

The country has low vaccination rates among the elderly, a third of China’s 267mn people older than 60 have not received their third vaccine dose.
Chinese culture is more risk-averse than many other countries when it comes to diseases and vaccines.
Despite the Communist party’s enormous powers of social control, ordering the elderly to vaccinate is viewed as a step too far because of fears it would spark “dramatic social resistance”.
Chinese-made vaccines provide high levels of protection from severe illness and death with three doses.
But they are less effective and fade faster than the mRNA technology developed by BioNTech/Pfizer and Moderna, which are used across the west.
The Chinese are also untested in the event of a huge outbreak.
Chinese government believes that the cost of losing national pride, the cost of losing market share to a foreign competitor, is much greater than using a marginally better vaccine that is not 100 per cent effective in preventing infection.
Ordinary Chinese people were “very worried” about the risks of infection, especially the dangers to children and the elderly.

China’s growth has slowed to its lowest rates in decades while youth unemployment has risen to a record 20 percent as relentless lockdowns sap consumer demand and hobble manufacturing.