The State Council Joint Prevention and Control Mechanism recently released the “Work Plan to Strengthen the Prevention and Control of New Coronary Pneumonia Epidemic and Health Services in Rural Areas”. The plan emphasized that services for key populations in rural areas should be strengthened, and vaccination of new corona virus vaccines for rural populations, especially the elderly, should be accelerated.
The “Work Plan” provides that the health conditions of the elderly, pregnant women, elderly widowers and abandoned children with basic pathologies present in the village group are ascertained. Rural medical personnel strengthen health guidance, drug monitoring and guidance, antigen detection and other services for home treatment observers by phone, video, WeChat or offline follow-up according to the actual situation. Implement the villagers’ committees service responsibility for home treatment observers, especially for the elderly living alone and the disabled who are unable to manage their own health, assist them in health monitoring and provide timely feedback to the rural medical institutions. Adhere to the principle of “getting as much as possible”, accelerate the increase in the vaccination rate of people aged 80 and over in rural areas, and continue to increase the vaccination rate of people aged 60-79 and other age groups. Rural health and medical institutions carrying out vaccination tasks should provide maximum convenience for rural residents, especially the elderly, by setting up green channels for the elderly or arranging mobile vaccination vehicles to go to the countryside and enter the village.
