China, the country that first detected the novel coronavirus, remains one of the few not to have imported one of the exceptionally effective mRNA COVID vaccines developed by Pfizer and Moderna. Instead, it has so far relied on vaccines developed by two Chinese companies, Sinovac and Sinopharm. However, this may be set to change. China is now developing its own mRNA vaccine.
Both the Sinovac and Sinopharm vaccines use a traditional design, containing whole forms of the coronavirus that have been inactivated – a tried-and-tested way of making vaccines that work. However, while these vaccines were initially quite good at stopping people getting symptomatic COVID, this protection waned significantly over time. These vaccines also offer poor protection against infection with omicron. This has put pressure on China to develop more effective vaccines, as it is pursuing a strict containment policy with the virus.
