ArticleHealth research policy and systems2024
Achilles' heel: elderly COVID-19 vaccination policy in China.
Article in Health research policy and systems, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.
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Who cites it
3 citing papers in PubMed.
- Understanding the practices and perceptions of Chinese older adults towards vaccination in the context of COVID-19: A qualitative study in Anhui Province.Human vaccines & immunotherapeutics · 2026Article
- A cross-sectional survey of false beliefs about COVID-19 and their association with vaccine hesitancy and uptake in the United States and China.PLOS global public health · 2026Article
- Epidemiological trends of influenza A and B in one hospital in Chengdu and national surveillance data (2019-2024).Frontiers in cellular and infection microbiology · 2025Article
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Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
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Abstract
backgroundDespite high overall COVID-19 vaccine coverage, the continuously low elderly vaccination rate in mainland China remains a dangerous threat as the country shifts away from its zero-Covid policy. This retrospective study uses the Multiple Streams Framework to examine how macro-level factors may explain poor elderly vaccination outcomes.
methodsWe performed a thematic analysis of qualitative data obtained from 95 official press conferences from October 20, 2020, to February 27, 2023, vaccination-related policy documents, and media coverage, using both inductive and deductive coding approaches.
resultsOur findings suggest that in the problem stream, elderly vaccination was not a "focusing event" during the initial vaccine rollout, resulting in delayed outreach to this population. Additionally, ideologically driven complacency and discrepancies in top-down implementation undermined elderly vaccination in the political stream. In the policy stream, precautious and ambiguous statements, inconsistent policy content, radical shifting media messages, and less age-friendly digital technologies also affected elderly vaccination.
conclusionsThe poor convergence of the three streams led the elderly to be the Achilles' heel of China's COVID-19 containment strategy. Future studies should focus on priority identification, adoption of enforcement measures, and timely and effective policy dissemination. The empirical lessons from China can inform and optimize elderly vaccination policy design and implementation in the post-pandemic era.
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