On Aug. 31, Hunan police went to Zhang Jianping’s home and questioned him about why he refused to get a COVID-19 vaccine. Both the Ministry of Education and the National Health Commission stipulated that vaccination should only be carried out with informed consent, Mr. Zhang says he
told them. He stated explicitly that he was not informed, did not agree and did not want to be jabbed. Later, the police officers forced him into a car heading to a hospital. With several people holding down his legs and arms, Mr. Zhang was injected with a vaccine.
Mr. Zhang’s story is not an isolated account. A frenzy of forced vaccinations began in July after President Xi Jinping set a
target of fully vaccinating 1.1 billion people, or 80 per cent of the population, by the end of October. The word
qinling, or “zeroing,” was mentioned in many official
documents issued by local governments. The Chinese Communist Party secretary in Huairen, Shanxi province, summed up its meaning in
a meeting: “No family missed, no person left … achieve comprehensive zeroing for targeted population.”