General practitioner Wen Daoqing conducts physical examinations on the 101-year-old woman Peng Liuqiong at her home Monday, two days after she got a COVID vaccine shot. Feng Min
A 101-year-old woman in Luohu District got her COVID-19 vaccine shot Saturday and did not exhibit any adverse effects after a medical examination two days later, Shenzhen Evening News reported yesterday.
Previously, local community staff found that the centenarian, Peng Liuqiong, had not been vaccinated. They visited her three times to persuade her to get inoculated. The community sent a car to take Peng, who was accompanied by her granddaughter, Liu Yuming, to the Guiyuan community health center Saturday for her first shot.
Two days later, general practitioner Wen Daoqing, accompanied by community workers, visited Peng to conduct routine physical examinations such as checks on her blood pressure and blood sugar. The elderly woman had no adverse symptoms and everything was normal, the report said.
“My grandmother sprained her foot during exercise earlier and had a little problem with her lumbar disc. She has no other serious diseases except for chronic tracheitis and high blood pressure,” Peng’s granddaughter said.
Peng lives with her granddaughter’s family and their daily life is very routine. Due to the epidemic situation, the elderly woman recently seldom went out for a walk.
“She has always been optimistic. She doesn’t eat fried food but likes boiled, steamed and stewed foods. I make special dishes for her, and she eats them very happily,” Liu said. “She brought up four of our siblings, and later helped bring up her great-grandchildren. Now we have five generations living together. Grandma actually likes to go out and play. Now she can take it easy when she goes out after the vaccination,” her granddaughter said.
Meanwhile, a discipline leader in Bao’an District Maternity and Child Health Care Hospital suggests that the elderly with chronic diseases and cancer can get vaccinated so long as they are in stable condition, DT News reported yesterday.
Li Lian, who is also in charge of a vaccination station in Bao’an’s Xinqiao Subdistrict, said that facts and data have proved
that the vaccination for the elderly not only has a low adverse reaction rate, but also offers better protection against COVID.
Some elderly people have concerns about the COVID vaccines, Li said. In fact, elderly people with chronic diseases but in stable health and with their health under control with the right medications can be vaccinated with the vaccines, the doctor told the News.
Doctors at the vaccination station will measure blood pressure for the elderly, monitor their electrocardiogram (ECG) and blood glucose if necessary, and make professional evaluations before administering the shot, according to Li.
“The vaccination will not cause adverse effects on blood pressure and blood sugar, and will neither reduce nor aggravate their original diseases,” Li said.
Li suggests that before and after vaccination, patients with hypertension, diabetes and hypothyroidism should still take routine medication according to their doctor’s advice.
Data from the Shenzhen Municipal Health Commission shows that the reporting rate for adverse reactions of people aged 60 and above who are inoculated with COVID vaccines is slightly lower than those under 60. After the third dose of the vaccines, the risk of severe illness and death by COVID-19 was reduced by more than 90%, the News reported.
Wang Huaqing, chief expert of immunization planning of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, cited the data of a latest study in Hong Kong to point out that during the recent epidemic caused by the Omicron variant in Hong Kong, the death risk of people aged 60 and above is 252 times that of people aged 30 and under. Wang suggested that eligible elderly people should be vaccinated as soon as possible. In addition, when there is a certain decline in immune protection, they should be given booster shots.
Guangdong Center for Disease Control and Prevention also said that the average age of deaths caused by COVID-19 is 70 and above.