The surrender of Hong Kong and struggles by Shanghai, Jilin and other areas in China to achieve zero-covid make it evident to many Chinese the costs of pursuing the zero-covid strategy. These costs can be counted in lost businesses as well as in lives lost to the strict policies.
Most importantly, they show that the dynamic zero-covid strategy may have met its match in Omicron Ba.2. It's time China deployed a vaccine that can help reduce SARS-CoV-2 transmission.
Thus far the Chinese leadership has resolutely refused to authorize the use of the BioNTech mRNA vaccine even though a Chinese company (Fosun) had entered a partnership with BioNTech in 2020 and was ready to manufacture in China in 2021. Instead, China chose to block foreign
mRNA vaccines so that Chinese domestic manufacturers could develop their own. Thus far, these domestic vaccine developers have not succeeded. It is a test of China's leadership whether they can adapt to changing circumstances.
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