City restores vaccination services to boost protection of seniors

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Shanghai will restore vaccination services for its citizens, especially the elderly, amid the declining daily COVID-19 infection numbers, the city's health commission said.

Local districts will push forward the vaccinations "orderly, smoothly and safely" as the city's locked down, controlled and precautionary areas are being adjusted dynamically according to PCR screening, said Zhao Dandan, vice director of the commission.

He asked district governments to well balance their COVID-19 prevention and vaccination and focus on seniors on the premise that the resurgence is under control.

"The Omicron variant will be of great harm to seniors, especially those without vaccination and with underlying disease," Zhao told the city's daily COVID-19 press briefing.

"The COVID-19 vaccines have strong effects to prevent severe symptoms and deaths," he added.

Over 3.6 million Shanghai citizens over 60 years old had received full COVID-19 vaccines as of April 15, accounting for 62 percent of the city's total elderly population. Among them, 2.2 million seniors had received a booster shot, or 38 percent of the total.

The vaccination services have been initially restored at local outskirts districts, including Jinshan, Fengxian, Chongming and Qingpu, where the resurgence has been better controlled than in downtown areas.

To better serve the elderly, these districts have arranged vaccination vehicles to drive into their communities, set up temporary vaccination sites at local seniors' homes, set up specialized vaccination windows for seniors or arrange transport for the elderly.

Child infections are another focus of the city amid the pandemic, Zhao added.

Since the resurgence around early March, Shanghai has reported 12,707 COVID-19 cases under the age of 6, accounting for 2.4 percent of the total. Among them, 7,480 have been discharged from local designated or makeshift hospitals, according to the commission.

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Most of the child infections are being treated at Shanghai Public Health Clinic Center and other designated COVID-19 hospitals. Some asymptomatic child cases are under medical observation at local makeshift hospitals and in the company of their guardians, Zhao said.

The commission has deployed experienced pediatric doctors, mainly from infection and respiratory departments, to take care of the children. Some other pediatric departments have been set up at designated hospitals for those with underlying diseases or with acute and severe symptoms.

Medical experts will visit each patient both online and offline every day and offer treatments that blend traditional Chinese and western medicines, Zhao said.

The hospitals have also been offering health education for accompanying parents and arranged more pleasant care environment to support the recovery of children, he added.

Shanghai's daily COVID-19 infection numbers have been declining for three days, amid the ongoing campaign to achieve zero community transmission across the city.

The city reported 10,622 infections on Tuesday, 21 percent fewer than on Monday. Of these, only 192 were found during community polymerase chain reaction (PCR) screenings.

No community transmission was reported in seven districts on Wednesday – downtown Huangpu and Yangpu as well as suburban Jiading, Qingpu, Jinshan, Fengxian and Chongming. Apart from Jinshan, the other districts have reported no community transmission for more than two days.

Shanghai reported 47 COVID-19 deaths on Wednesday – one fewer than Tuesday – bringing the total since the resurgence began to 285, Zhao said.

The average age of Wednesday's fatalities was 84.7 years. All had severe underlying conditions. Only one of them had been vaccinated.

Of the COVID-19 patients, 304 have severe symptoms and 48 are in critical condition, an increase of about 30 percent over the previous day.

Meanwhile, 27,187 COVID-19 patients were discharged from local designated and makeshift hospitals on Wednesday after recovering.

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