China has done everything it can to keep the virus out of its borders.
It has kept cases and deaths low through a strategy that involved tracking and tracing every case, closed its borders and locked down cities of millions of people. The country was able to carry out a massive inoculation effort because of domestic vaccines.
China's 1.4 billion people don't have access to one of the most effective coronaviruses vaccines the world has to offer. Dozens of countries have embraced the vaccines that use the breakthrough technology that was developed in the West.
The effectiveness of Chinese vaccines has been questioned because they use a century-old method for inoculation. The country said it would approve the German shot in partnership with Pfizer. China said it was close to producing its own vaccine. They are not available today.
China's lack of an mRNA shot and its delay in approving a viable foreign option has poked holes in Beijing's victorious pandemic narrative and prompted experts to question whether the country's go-it.
China has turned more inward, promoting self-reliance, and championed development in areas like Semiconductor and other technology, under the leadership of the top leader. The recognition of a foreign vaccine appears to be part of the political exercise.
Some in the scientific community say it is hard to imagine that the state of China hasn't been working on a vaccine that works. Many experts are confused by the fact that China has fallen behind on that front and failed to approve a foreign option.
We don't know how decisions are made nowadays in China, but a better vaccine would definitely help in maintaining a zero- Covid policy.
He said that it would be embarrassing for them to show the opposite to the Chinese people.
China says its virus policies have prevented millions of people from getting sick. Scientists say that the population doesn't have enough natural immunity to fight severe infections, making reliable vaccines even more important. There is growing pressure on the country to change.
In recent months, officials have begun openly discussing the need to introduce better vaccine technology.
China last week approved for emergency use a Covid-19 pill made by Pfizer called Paxlovid, a move that some experts said could help change Beijing's pandemic strategy.
A request for comment was not responded to by Fosun.
The approval process for Sinopharm and Sinovac, which manufacture the vaccines that are available in China, looked different. Both Chinese drugmakers can now submit their trial data behind schedule. The vaccine was approved a week after the company filed its application.
Sinovac and Sinopharm vaccines help prevent hospitalization and death, but their ability to reduce transmission with Omicron is questionable. Scientists in Brazil say Sinovac is only 51 percent effective in preventing disease. Sinopharm has an efficacy of 78 percent according to the Whole Health Organization.
The W.H.O. has signed off on Chinese vaccines for emergency use, but most Western governments prefer mRNA technology.
China said that it was close to producing a shot called ArcoVax as approval for BioNTech lingered. The Communist Party newspaper reported in September that two private drugmakers and China's Academy of Military Medical Sciences would make 200 million doses by October.
It would have been a great achievement for China.
Unlike traditional vaccines that use an inactivated virus to cause a response by the immune system, mRNA vaccines use a genetic molecule that helps cells to make a vaccine that can set off an immune response in the body. The response creates an immune system that can fight the virus.
The first vaccine for the coronaviruses was based on research done in different parts of the world. It took Pfizer, BioNTech and Moderna just over a year to apply those advances to a new vaccine that could prevent serious illness and death from Covid-19.
The final version of the vaccine produced by Pfizer and Moderna came together with the help of a multimillion dollar program. The efficacy rate of the BioNTech vaccine was determined by the Food and Drug Administration in 2020.
John P. Moore said that trying to reverse engineer it from scratch is one of those things.
China has not said anything about the program it is pursing. A scientist who used to work at Moderna has founded a start-up called Suzhou Abogen, which is one of the private companies helping to develop ArcoVax. Abogen was developing drugs for cancer, one of the biggest epidemics in China.
Walvax is a publicly listed pharmaceutical group. Beijing has not mentioned an official collaboration with the two companies, but their partnership with the Chinese Academy of Military Medical Sciences suggests strong government backing.
The Chinese Academy of Military Medical Sciences was added to an entity list by the United States last year, which made it difficult to export.
The details of an initial trial of the vaccine were published. They found it to be safe, but it caused more side effects than the BioNTech shot.
Abogen and Walvax did not reply to questions. A senior executive at Walvax said last month that it had recruited 28,000 people for a trial. A booster is being tested.
Two doses of Sinovac boosted with an mRNA shot offered strong protection against the Delta and Omicron variant, according to a recent study. It is not known when the vaccine will be available in China.
As the weeks go by, approval for BioNTech seems to grow more elusive.
Sean Marett, chief business and commercial officer of BioNTech, spoke at a health care conference last month.
The research was contributed by Cao Li.
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