There's undoubtedly a lot of face saving going on, but that's because Sinovax isn't as effective as the Western vaccines. And quite a lot of the elderly aren't vaccinated at all. So they can't liberalize without the death rate skyrocketing. Maybe that would be more acceptable now? Difficult for the Chinese people to discuss.
Interesting that whilst they’re willing to violate human rights in a number of ways, they’re not prepared to force people to take the vaccine or e.g. take away employment for refusing.
It’s probably easier that way to spin the situation as “your fault for not taking it”.
The can and have convinced most working age people to get vaxxed. The issue is the low rate of vaccination among those who are 80+. These folks rarely interact with organs of the state, and there’s not much you can do to coerce them. Simply put, old people have run out of fucks to give.
It’s of course compounded by the reportedly lower efficacy of Chinese vaccines compared to mRNA vaccines.
These two factors combine for a predicted high mortality rate among the most vulnerable group can be expected.
