China has devised a new incentive to boost elderly vaccinations to levels that could finally allow the country to relax its zero-Covid strategy and revive the economy: insurance packages for people worried about jab-related side effects.

Dozens of cities across the country have begun offering people aged 60 and older free insurance that pays out up to Rmb500,000 ($75,000) if they fall ill — or worse — because of Covid-19 vaccines.

The packages also promise payouts to families if it can be proven that a loved one’s death was related to receiving a jab. In Beijing alone, about 60,000 seniors have signed up for the coverage since April.

As in other countries, a large number of people in China harbor doubts about the safety of the vaccines despite a lack of evidence of a high risk of serious side effects.

But government officials and the country’s strictly controlled media shy away from discussing even routine side effects, which can include short-lived fevers, soreness and other relatively mild reactions.

Recommended This has, paradoxically, created a vacuum in which unsubstantiated rumors about alleged links between vaccines and serious diseases such as leukaemia and type-I diabetes have spread widely on Chinese social media.

Prevention has gone to great lengths in making public information about health problems associated with Covid vaccines,” said a Beijing-based immunologist, who asked not to be named because of the sensitivity of the subject. “[But China] is focused on painting the picture of a 100 percent risk-free vaccine that doesn’t exist in reality.”

As of May 5, less than two-thirds of Chinese citizens aged 60 or older had received a booster shot, as recommended by the World Health Organization. To achieve herd immunity, it is estimated that 80 per cent of the entire population needs a third dose.