U.S. criticizes China’s zero Covid strategy, says Beijing needs to boost vaccination among elderly

People hold white sheets of paper and flowers in a row as police check their IDs during a protest over coronavirus disease (COVID-19) restrictions in mainland China, during a commemoration of the victims of a fire in Urumqi, in Hong Kong, China November 28, 2022. 

The Chinese people have a right to peacefully protest, according to the White House.

Everyone has the right to peacefully protest in the US and around the world. A spokesman for President Joe Biden's National Security Council stated that this includes in the PRC.

There were rare protests against Covid lockdowns over the weekend. China is still imposing strict social controls nearly three years after the first Covid outbreak, while countries such as the US have largely returned to normal life.

Zero carbon dioxide is not a policy the NSC is pursuing in the US. We think it will be hard for the People's Republic of China to contain this virus through their zero COVID strategy.

Making testing and treatment more accessible is one of the priorities of the U.S. Covid response.

China has strict Covid controls that keep deaths low compared to the U.S., but they have also disrupted economic and social life. The World Health Organization says more than 30,000 people have died from Covid in China. More than one million people have died in the United States.

China's approach to Covid doesn't make public health sense, says the top infectious disease expert in the U.S. One of the groups most vulnerable to Covid is the elderly, and their vaccine rates are low in China. People in critical positions first, those 18 to 59 next, and then people 60 and over were the focus of the vaccine campaign.

Fauci told NBC's Meet the Press on Sunday that vaccinations for the elderly were "almost counter productive."

Fauci said that in China, there was a very strict extraordinary lock-down where people were locked in the house but no one was allowed to leave.

According to a September report from China's Center for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 70% of people ages 60 and older in China have received a booster vaccine. The percentage of older Americans who had received a booster was 70%.

Fauci said that China's vaccine development is not very effective.

Older people are more skeptical of the vaccine, according to the authors of the ChinaCDC report. The clinical trials didn't enroll enough older people and as a result there wasn't enough data on the vaccine's safety and efficacy for this age group

The White House Covid task force's head said that China should focus on making sure the elderly get vaccinations.

I believe that is the path out of the virus. It is going to be difficult to sustain lock downs and no evidence.