China Approves Pfizer/BioNTech mRNA-COVID Vaccine — For Foreigners Only

On Friday, China confirmed in a press conference that it would give German nationals the BioNTech COVID vaccine, which uses mRNA technology, in exchange for German health authorities on Wednesday approving China’s Sinovac vaccination for Chinese nationals living in Germany would.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry statement clarifies an earlier announcement by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz during his trip to Beijing that BioNTech would be made available to foreigners in China.

But Beijing’s decision to approve the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine for a portion of China’s population underscores the country’s uneasy relationship with mRNA vaccines and shots developed abroad, even as Beijing announces its exit from its strict COVID-zero policy. policy initiates, which will likely result in a massive outbreak.

Has China approved mRNA vaccines?

BioNTech is the first mRNA vaccine – and the first developed abroad – approved for use in mainland China, although it is only available to German nationals living there.

Several Chinese companies are developing mRNA vaccines, but none have made it to final approval. In September, Indonesia – not China – became the first country to approve a Chinese-developed mRNA vaccine by pharmaceutical company Walvax.

Fosun Pharmaceuticals, BioNTech’s Greater China distributor, secured 100 million doses for the China market in December 2020. However, Fosun’s applications to use its doses in mainland China are still pending, with no details on when the mRNA vaccine will be approved for widespread use. (The semi-autonomous Chinese city of Hong Kong approved BioNTech for use in their vaccination campaigns)

China has largely relied on two vaccines from Sinovac and Sinopharm for its vaccination campaign. The two vaccines use an inactivated virus to confer immunity. Studies show that the two vaccines are less effective in preventing infection, serious illness and death than BioNTech and Moderna’s vaccines, which use mRNA technology.

Sinovac and Sinopharm are both developing boosters specifically targeting the Omicron variant.

Public health officials have blamed China’s less effective vaccines for hindering its ability to smoothly change its COVID policy. “The effectiveness of vaccines made in China is not at the level of vaccines that have been used in the United States,” said Anthony Fauci, the outgoing White House medical adviser The Washington Post on Dec 2

How many Chinese are vaccinated?

From Beijing’s point of view, the more pressing problem is not the effectiveness of its vaccines, but that not enough people are vaccinated. Official data released in early December showed that only 40% of China’s population over 80 had received a booster shot. Health officials promised then to launch new campaigns to vaccinate the elderly in China, but now the task is particularly urgent.

Beijing announced sweeping changes to its COVID rules last Wednesday, including allowing mild and asymptomatic cases to recover at home and limiting the lockdown to individual floors and buildings rather than entire neighborhoods. A turning point is likely good news for China’s economy, which was battered by a record-breaking COVID outbreak and widespread lockdowns in November. Chinese consumer sentiment fell last month to levels not seen since early 2020, the early days of the pandemic, according to a survey released Sunday by Morning Consult.

However, looser measures could lead to a surge in cases across China. One of the country’s top medical advisers predicted last week that up to 60% of the country could get COVID in a first wave of outbreaks.

Chinese officials are now reassuring people that an increase in cases is not a cause for concern. State media on Friday quoted Zhong Nanshan, the country’s top medical expert, as saying that the death rate from omicron is comparable to that of influenza.

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