The Economist - USA (2021-02-20)

34 The Economist February 20th 2021
China

The vaccine roll-out

Sinovacillate

I

n any otheryear, Mr Lai would have

been among the millions who usually re-

turn to their ancestral homes for the spring

festival, when families celebrate the lunar

new year. But this year, to prevent out-

breaks of covid-19, the government had

urged citizens to stay put for the weeklong

holiday, the last day of which was February

17th. So Mr Lai, a 40-year-old office worker

in Beijing, was instead among the first in

China, other than essential workers and

employees of the state, to get vaccinated

against the disease. Before the holiday,

China had administered some 40m doses

of Chinese-made vaccines to people such

as medical and delivery staff, government

officials, and students and workers going

overseas. Now the capital is calling on all

residents to volunteer for jabs.

China is second only to America in

terms of the absolute number of shots it

has administered (America has dispensed

more than 57m doses). But per head, China

is dawdling. Just 3% of people in China

have received a jab, compared with 17% of

Americans (see chart, next page). The

country has not yet begun to inoculate its

elderly, lacking data on whether local vac-

cines are safe for them. Beijing is so far the

only city to have begun a mass inoculation

programme. It covers those aged 18 to 59.

Late last year the central government had

aimed to administer 100m doses before the

spring festival. Why is it falling short?

China got off to a quick start last sum-

mer, under an emergency-use programme

that involved giving shots to soldiers,

health-care and aviation workers and the

staff of state-owned firms. To the alarm of

scientists overseas, the Chinese vaccines

had not yet made their way through the big

“phase three” trials that are normally re-

quired for new vaccines. Such trials are

still under way, but, in December, Chinese

regulators authorised a vaccine by Sino-

pharm, the country’s largest maker of such

products, for general use. This month they

approved a second one, by Sinovac, a

smaller producer. The two firms aim to

make 2bn vaccines this year. Under a two-

shot regimen, that would be enough to

cover 70% of China’s population.

It is not that people in China are resist-

ing vaccination. A survey in December by

Ipsos, a pollster, found that four in five

were willing to get a shot, the highest pro-

portion among the 15 countries they sur-

veyed. And they are keen on China’s own

vaccines. The government’s effective

crushing of the virus, in contrast with the

rampant spread of covid-19 in much of the

West, has boosted the credibility of made-

in-China approaches. Many people say

that, given the choice, they would prefer

Chinese vaccines to Western ones. That is

remarkable in a country which has been

rocked by vaccine scandals. The most re-

cent one erupted in 2019 after infants were

given expired doses of the polio vaccine.

Official propaganda has helped. State

media have questioned the safety of the

mrna vaccines, such as those made by

Pfizer and BioNTech, that are being used in

the West. Chinese vaccines that use an in-

activated virus have “more mature tech-

nology”, they insist. Mr Lai warns darkly

that the mrnasort could “alter a person’s

dna” (this is false).

Hesitancy in China appears to be not

bottom-up, but top-down. If leaders are re-

luctant to roll out a mass programme na-

tionwide, it is probably because there is

BEIJING

Despite a head start, China has fallen behind the West in dispensing covid-19 jabs

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