Coronavirus vaccine: China sticks with developing mRNA shot amid Omicron, commercial uncertainty
- The efficacy of China’s vaccination regimen against Omicron is unclear but the country continues to rely on home-grown doses rather than foreign products
- Developing mRNA shots is crucial for China’s pharmaceutical industry because the technology could accelerate new products and treatments, say experts
“If they [China] use mRNA vaccines, they will produce them themselves rather than take it from outside. It is a matter of national pride and also vaccine diplomacy,” said Jaya Dantas, professor of international health at the Curtin University school of population health in Australia.
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Inside the Stemirna Therapeutics mRNA Covid-19 vaccine factory in Shanghai
About 87 per cent of China’s 1.4 billion people are fully vaccinated and nearly 40 per cent have received boosters – all non-mRNA shots. Along with a policy of strictly containing every local outbreak, China has prevented major virus flare-ups. However, the efficacy of the vaccination regimen against Omicron is unclear.
Pre-Omicron human trials showed mRNA shots from US-German duo Pfizer and BioNTech as well as US biotech Moderna better prevented symptomatic cases than the most-used non-mRNA Chinese shots – though studies indicate the pair need boosters to strengthen Omicron defences.
China has not approved the use of those or any other foreign vaccine, instead relying on home-grown vaccines.
“For what appears to be political reasons, the Chinese authorities have insisted to date on using domestically developed alternatives, and that has required them to lean that much further on this lockdown and quarantine-heavy approach to zero-Covid,” said senior China analyst Michael Hirson at Eurasia Group.
“I think a more open approach to vaccines would provide them more flexibility and in terms of how they go about containment with a less disruptive impact on the economy.”