(Author’s note: Due to technical difficulties with the email server, subscribers stopped getting their regular blog posts by email on 11/11/22. Therefore, I am re-publishing those posts not received by the subscribers from then until Dec. 8 when the problem was corrected. My apologies to those who have been able to read these posts by going directly to my web site.)
The price of Chinese Communist Party rule is getting higher. As I write this post, the Chinese people are demonstrating in the streets in protest for the severe lockdowns imposed by the CCP in furtherance of an unrealistic zero Covid policy. But setting aside the protests of the people for the moment, how else has the CCP failed its people in their response to Covid?
Let’s look at the Chinese vaccination program. President Xi Jinping refused to offer his people access to Western-made mRNA Covid vaccines. Instead, he forced China’s 1.4 billion citizens to submit to vaccines made only in China. China’s homegrown vaccines – including Sinovac and Sinopharm – are much less effective against Covid than are the mRNA shots created by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna. Sinovac was much less effective initially against symptomatic Covid – only about 50% – compared with more than 90% effectiveness for both mRNA vaccines.
The Wall Street Journal editorial board says the comparison is even worse against serious disease, especially for the most vulnerable. A Brazil BMJ study of those over age 70 found that Sinovac was only 61% protective against death and 55% against hospitalization. That compares to upward of 90% protection against hospitalization for Moderna and Pfizer for seniors.
Another study published in The Lancet, found that Sinovac produces a much inferior memory T-cell response and neutralizing antibodies against the Omicron variant. The memory T-cell response is what protects people against severe illness as variants evolve.
The U.S. government has complained about the lack of vaccination by many Americans, but the Chinese response is worse. Tens of millions of China’s elderly still aren’t vaccinated, perhaps because word has spread that its vaccines are less effective. Some countries also refused to recognize Sinovac as an accepted vaccine, and have suggested that those who received the Chinese shot consider getting an mRNA booster. Naturally, this repressive Chinese government responded with propaganda casting doubt on the safety of the Pfizer shots while boosting homegrown vaccines. In January 2021, as Chinese vaccines were distributed to other countries, the CCP mouthpiece Global Times ran news stories and editorials suggesting that Western vaccines were killing people.
Taking it another step farther, the CCP announced in March, 2021, that the Chinese border would be open to foreigners who received the Sinovac shots, but not for those getting the Western vaccines. They also spread rumors in Hong Kong, where both Chinese and Western vaccines were available, that the Western shots were not safe.
It seems that President Xi’s policy is to promote Chinese nationalism at the expense of the Chinese people. WSJ editors say, “Central to Mr. Xi’s aggressive nationalism is selling the Chinese public on the superiority of China’s political system. China’s leaders may have felt they couldn’t accept Western vaccines lest they concede that the county still trails the West in some areas.”
The editors also suspect the Chinese believed they could steal the mRNA technology, which they have managed to do successfully in other businesses including defense industries. When Moderna sought to sell its vaccine in China, Beijing tried to extort the U.S. biotech leader by demanding it hand over its intellectual property, according to a Financial Times report last month. Moderna wisely declined.
Germany’s chief government spokesperson, Steffen Hebestreit, recently suggested China revisit its rejection of foreign mRNA vaccines. “Perhaps after three years of the pandemic, it must be said that Europe and Germany have had very good experience with administering mRNA vaccinations,” said Mr. Hebestreit. But to do so, the Chinese would have to admit their mistake. It seems they would rather continue to endanger the world – and especially their own people.
