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A child looks on as a woman receives the China National Biotec Group (CNBG) COVID-19 vaccine in Nantong, in China's eastern Jiangsu Province on July 5, 2021. STR/AFP via Getty Images
In a bid to improve vaccination rates, local authorities in China are punishing entire families if one member refuses to receive jabs against the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus.
Officials from several counties and cities governments said they will stop giving pensions and medical aid to the unvaccinated. Authorities will also bar unvaccinated individuals from visiting schools, workplaces, or other areas outside their homes, such as shops, banks, and libraries.
Moreover, related family members, even the vaccinated, could suffer.
In two provinces, children can not return to school if parents fail to provide proof that the entire two generations in a family received jabs. Local governments in the northern Liaoning and central Henan provinces published the announcement, worded similarly as the ban to individuals.
In Liaoning Province’s Huludao city, authorities require all students, from kindergarten to vocational schools, to present vaccination proof for all family members. The list includes parents, all grandparents, siblings over 12 years old, and temporary guardians. Otherwise, children will not be allowed to go back to school in autumn, according to a statement released on Aug. 25.
In Henan Province, Zhengyang county officials withdrew a similar requirement on Aug. 26 after it met with Chinese state broadcaster CCTV’s backlash.
But similar content from other provinces, including southern Guangxi Province, is still on its official website.
Lower authorities who are directly responsible for persuading or pressuring residents to get vaccines have adopted harsher measures.
Officials of a residential community in China’s western Qinghai Province said if a resident “rejects vaccines,” other family members would not receive any forms of pensions, such as those for the disabled and low-income families, according to the state media outlet, The Paper.
Residents would be registered as rejectors if they cannot get medical statements to prove their physical conditions are unsuitable for vaccination, including pregnant and nursing women.
Other penalties include restricting going out of residential communities, suspending all offers for reference letters to school and employers, and denying applications for all personal projects.
“It’s only a bluff,” the director of the North Street community told The Paper, adding they have to achieve the tasked vaccination goal, according to the report on Aug. 25.
Zero Out the Unvaccinated
The community staff didn’t explain what the assigned task is or whether the directive is from the central government.
Nevertheless, recent notices suggest county and city authorities from at least ten provinces have launched a new campaign to reduce the unvaccinated figure to zero, ranging from the northern Inner Mongolia region to southern Sichuan Province.
Common requirements include “going to every household” to register and persuade unvaccinated residents. Some mention punishment for those who fail to achieve.
Top officials of government agencies, state-owned institutions, and companies could be punished if they fail to meet the target vaccination rate, according to a statement from municipal health authorities in Shanxi Province posted on Aug. 24. It said the vaccination rate should be over 91.2 percent in each institution before the next day.
People complained on social media platforms, including Twitter and Weibo, its counterpart in China, that officials repeatedly pressure them to get vaccines despite the claim that vaccination is voluntary.
Party chief of Huaibei city attributed the policy changes to China leader Xi Jinping, alleging that the goal is to get 1 billion vaccinated at the end of August and 1.1 billion at the end of October.
