China seems to be slower than Western countries in implementing vaccination. Given the past scandals of shoddy vaccines made in China, some Chinese people prefer to wait for foreign-made vaccines to become available. Pictured here is a diagram.
Bloomberg reports that China appears to be slower than Western countries in implementing vaccinations, one reason being that people question the safety and efficacy of vaccines.
China has been rolling out the vaccine for about seven weeks, but the level of vaccination has unexpectedly fallen short of expectations. According to Bloomberg’s Vaccine Tracker, China has administered more than 31.2 million doses of the vaccine since it officially began on Dec. 15 last year, second only to the U.S., which has administered nearly 35 million doses, but for a population of 1.4 billion, that translates to just two doses per 100 people, which is less than the approximately three doses per 100 people in Europe, 10 doses per 100 people in the U.S., and far less than the nearly 60 doses per 100 people in Israel. The rate of vaccination in China also does not seem to be as fast as that in Europe.
China also appears to be falling short of its internal goal of vaccinating 50 million people by New Year’s Eve, Feb. 11. This raises questions about whether China, the world’s second-largest economy, will continue its embargo as other countries look to the vaccine’s herd immunization effect to begin lifting it.
As long as the government is willing to implement it through top-to-bottom mobilization, as it has done in the past, we would expect China to We were expecting China to be successful in implementing [vaccination]. Now it looks like we were too optimistic.”
The slow increase in vaccinations in China is not due to distribution disruptions or lack of production as in Europe, where there are more than 25,000 vaccination sites across the country, including converted stadiums, museums and community centers. As early as mid-2020, some people are being vaccinated under emergency use authorizations.
The slow pace of universal vaccination in China appears to be due to a general hesitation on the part of the population for reasons other than doubts about the safety and protective power of domestically produced vaccines and a lack of urgency, with the current wave of the outbreak limited to parts of the north.
Bloomberg estimates that, at the current rate of vaccination, it will take 5 1/2 years for China to reach herd immunity, longer than the 11 months in the US and 6 months in the UK.
According to Louis Kuijs, an Asian economist at Oxford Economics in Hong Kong, “If the pace of vaccination does not accelerate, it could further delay China’s open borders and affect economic growth in the coming years. “
Nicholas Thomas, an associate professor at City University of Hong Kong who specializes in health and safety, also said that at the current pace, international travel is likely to continue to be restricted in the coming years.
Unlike inspection, traveler quarantine and embargo measures, Chinese Communist Party officials do not appear to be mandating vaccinations at this Time, and even high-risk groups such as health care workers can decide for themselves whether to get vaccinated. While leaders of other countries are rolling up their sleeves and publicly vaccinating themselves in front of the public, no one knows for sure whether top CCP officials, including Xi Jinping, have been vaccinated.
In addition, Chinese vaccine manufacturers have been criticized for not being transparent enough about the safety and efficacy of vaccines, releasing less information than manufacturers in Western countries. This has added to the skepticism of countries with which China has vaccine agreements, such as Pakistan and Indonesia; Chinese health care workers are also concerned about being the first white mice to receive vaccines.
In light of past scandals involving shoddy vaccines made in China, some Chinese would rather wait for foreign-made vaccines to hit the market.
The West is not doing a very good job of controlling the Epidemic, but if it reaches herd immunity before China does, that’s a powerful message,” said Huang Yanzhong. If Western countries start lifting their embargoes and opening up to each other, it would be a major challenge for the Chinese model.”
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