That's someone in the govt machinery/ruling party trying to curry favour with the current leadership... Shitty and sad.
Since the current govt has come in, pseudo science has flourished and been tacitly encouraged and scientific temper in general has been thrown out of the window. All this to prop up ultra-nationalistic narratives..
A slightly less cranky theory on reducing the effects is that MMR vaccinations may give partial protection hence the relatively low child casualties https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/01/26/2019-ncov-china-epidemi... and search 'child'. I think I might be tempted as an over 50 to get a booster if it was coming my way.
Another interesting thing is Inovio of San Diego already have a computer designed but untested DNA vaccine. In the past DNA vaccines have not been approved for use in humans but they are partnered with a Chinese company and I'm not sure the Chinese will be as conservative as the FDA in terms of trying things.
