What I don't understand is why China's top priority was to avoid using the far more effective Pfizer and Moderna vaccines in the West. The Draconian lockdown policy was driven in major part by the lack of effective vaccines being available. I bet Xi got a Pfizer/Moderna jab behind closed doors however.
Actually importing mRNA vaccines would have been an admission of failure in Xi's goal of making China a self-sufficient world leader in technology, just when it was most needed.
In reality, studies in countries where both Chinese-made vaccines and mRNA vaccines were used indicate that Chinese-made vaccines are effective against the Omicron strain, but three shots of these are required to provide equivalent protection as two shots of the mRNA vaccines. So, not importing mRNA vaccines isn't the biggest failure.
The biggest failure was a lack of urgency around vaccines. A police state is certainly capable of coercing vaccinations, but that was never done. It was only after Beijing announced the (de facto) end of the lockdowns did it then direct local authorities to prioritize vaccinating high-risk people. But it's already far too late to prevent a wave of mass deaths.
It was, indeed, an open secret that Party elites were being offered the Pfizer vaccine. I've heard that now they're available to the public in Beijing, but at a price of several hundred dollars. I wonder how hard the Party apparatchik grifting on that, kissed Xi's ass to get that job, however.
Thanks for the reply. Just why the authorities thought mass lockdowns would be less expensive to the economy than paying to get everyone vaccinnated, even if three doses, escapes me, if not based on some twisted political narrative or paranoia.
You say effective against omicron, but how about the delta and earlier variants that we contended with for close to two years that were more lethal. This saga has been going on for along time.
