China’s recent approval for the import of Pfizer pills from the US has been controversial on all accounts. It raises questions on the effectiveness of Chinese vaccines like Convidecia and Sinovac. The decision of CCP also brings in doubts regarding the capabilities and technological advancement of Chinese pharmacy companies.
The Chinese vaccines have long been touted as the most effective among all the vaccines available in the market by the CCP. China even exported its vaccines to countries across the world. It emphasized that its vaccines are capable enough to fight the new COVID variants like Delta and Omicron. It seems that all the claims of CCP and Chinese pharmacy companies are crashing and it has forced Xi Jinping to allow the imports of Pfizer COVID pills from the US.
China’s Zero COVID policy
The country which created the coronavirus in 2019 is still sticking to “Zero Covid”, placing millions under quarantine even as Beijing is hosting the 2022 Winter Olympics. China has a formula it calls “dynamic zero” for curbing outbreaks. It uses extremely strict lockdowns and immediate forced mass testing’s.
Unlike softer lockdowns elsewhere, people in China can be banned from leaving their buildings or forced to remain inside hotel rooms for months, if they are considered high-risk contacts. The historic city of Xi’an was locked down in December, forcing its 13 million residents indoors after around 150 cases were detected. International flights are a fraction of pre-pandemic levels with arrivals undergoing strict weeks-long quarantine. Mandatory track-and-trace apps mean close contacts are detected and forcefully pushed into sealed rooms.
China has built several COVID segregation camps across the country. These camps contain isolation containers for each COVID suspect and patient. Anyone who is suspected or is suffering from COVID is thrown into these isolation containers. Patients and suspects live in these containers alone for weeks.
China’s decision to allow the imports of Pfizer pills
China’s surprise decision to clear Pfizer’s coronavirus pill for use offers rare insight into how Beijing may be planning to scrap its Zero COVID policy that’s leaving it increasingly isolated. Pfizer’s pill – Paxlovid’s conditional approval over the weekend makes it the first foreign pharmaceutical product endorsed by China for Covid-19. The country until now was sticking steadfastly to domestically developed vaccines and therapeutics, even withholding approval for the highly potent mRNA shot co-produced by Pfizer and BioNTech.
China is among the last economic superpower, which is still hooked with the interminable pandemic. It is a task that’s becoming increasingly difficult in the face of more transmissible variants like omicron and delta. The lower efficacy of China’s homegrown vaccines is seen as a key reason behind the ongoing strategy, and having an effective antiviral in its arsenal could help mitigate that disadvantage if the virus was allowed to circulate more freely.
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It seems that CCP is now frustrated with its product. The virus that it developed and spread across the world is now forcing it to take the help of its biggest rival, the US. Importing the Pfizer pills is a clear sign that Xi Jinping has completely failed to contain the virus in his home ground, and is now suffering from extreme pressure due to the upcoming CCP congress, scheduled at the end of this year. That’s why he is now scraping the much-advertised (so-called landmark and example setting) Zero COVID Policy of CCP with the help of Pfizer pills from the US.
