China should pause politics and look at Covid jab imports, the world's biggest vaccine maker says

January 18, 2023: China needs to move past political considerations and look at putting Covid-19 jabs finishing the pandemic globally, says the chief executive of the world’s recent vaccine manufacturer.

“They need to start themselves up to healthcare and vaccines from the West and to set any political problems or things that are holding them back,” Adar Poonawalla, CEO of the Serum Institute of India, said to the World Economic Forum in Davos.

China has anticipated a massive spike in Covid-19 cases and fatalities after abruptly which end its zero-Covid policy, imposing strict lockdowns, mass testing and quarantine on arrival into the country.

According to World Health Organization figures, China’s total Covid vaccination rate is nearly 87%, which indicates that 54% of the population has also been inoculated with a booster jab.

The primary Covid vaccines approved in China are from Sinovac and Sinopharm. Several studies have found that these jabs are less effective against the Omicron variant than other mRNA vaccines, such as Pfizer and BioNTech’s.

Poonawalla said China’s pandemic reaction of 2020, which included building hospitals and infrastructure that takes precautions, showed that Beijing could respond rapidly.

He stresses China’s decision not to use vaccines from the U.S., India and elsewhere, which have been “very effective.”

“I think they may have to seriously look at doing, as a booster at least, and take vaccines proving the real-world data and efficacy,” he said.

“Otherwise, the alternative is that many people in China will keep getting infected, and we just hope we wish them the best of luck in trying to manage that crisis and come out of it nearly possible.”

He stated that this represents a global issue, given the number of people travelling to China for business or leisure and the number of Chinese nationals travelling overseas.