A new COVID-19 vaccination mandate was issued in Beijing on July 6, limiting unvaccinated residents from entering some public venues amid the recent outbreak of COVID-19 in the city.
According to the new rule, people must be vaccinated to enter crowd gathering venues, such as offline training institutions, libraries, museums, stadiums, gyms, performance entertainment venues, and internet cafes; and priority for appointments will be given to vaccinated people.
Li Ang, a spokesperson for the Beijing Health Commission, announced the new vaccination mandate at a press conference on July 6.
Request for Information
Zhang Kai, a Beijing-based rights lawyer, holds that the city’s new rule is contradictory to the country’s State Council vaccination principles—being informed, giving consent, and being voluntary.Using social media, Zhang said that he has not taken any COVID-19 vaccines because of the state principles, and that Beijing’s new vaccination mandate harms his “civil rights.”
According to Zhang’s post, he has filed an application with Beijing’s top health body, demanding the disclosure of information about its decision-making procedure for such a major decision and its legal basis, and calling on the health body to “promulgate relevant regulations in strict accordance with laws and regulations.”
Zhang asked Beijing’s health body to disclose “minutes of the executive meetings and plenary meetings of the decision-making organ; the minutes of the hearing and symposiums held for the above decision, the questionnaire survey materials, and public opinion survey materials,” among other information, during the decision-making process of the vaccination rule.
The government should follow due “legal process” when “making major administrative decisions,” according to Zhang in his post.
His post soon disappeared from the social media platform.
The Epoch Times reached out to Zhang but did not receive a reply before publication time.
Beijing resident Li Fen (pseudonym) told the Chinese language edition of The Epoch Times on July 8 that her neighborhood committee called an elderly parent to try and persuade her to take the COVID-19 vaccine.
“We also saw a notice from the neighborhood committee, motivating residents of 60 and above to take the jab and rewarding intermediaries for coercing people into taking the vaccination,” she said.
“It is illegal to force our 60-year-olds to be vaccinated; there is no such law or regulation,” said Li.
The new policy, which was set to be effective on July 11, was reportedly halted on the evening of July 8.
However, a property management staffer of an office building in Zhongguancun, a technology hub in Beijing known as “China’s Silicon Valley,” told China’s Jimu News on July 7 that those who have not been vaccinated will not be allowed to enter the building starting on July 8.
Another Request for Information
Lu Tingge, a rights lawyer based in Shijiazhuang, Hebei Province, told The Epoch Times in a recent interview, “People will come to see a legal channel that is simple to operate, allowing more people to follow suit,” Lu said. “If more people demand information disclosure, it will be more helpful to improve China’s pandemic prevention and control measures.”In May this year, Lu submitted an application to China’s National Health Commission and the local health commissions of Shanghai and Beijing to disclose epidemic information.
The Epoch Times made multiple efforts to contact China’s National Health Commission, Beijing Municipal Health Commission, and Beijing Disease Prevention and Control Center on July 7 and July 11 via their registered numbers, but the lines were busy or the call was not answered.
