As Covid Cases Surge, First Foreign Vaccines Arrive In China

German-made BioNTech vaccine will soon become the first foreign coronavirus vaccine to be used in China. The first batch, which will be administered to German nationals residing in China, has been dispatched, a German government spokesperson told Reuters on Wednesday. 

This is a result of German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s visit to Beijing last month. Following the visit, Beijing agreed for the import of BioNTech vaccine for the exclusive use of around 20,000 German citizens in the country. In return, Germany has permitted the Chinese-made Sinovac vaccine to be used for Chinese nationals living in the European nation. 

China is presently coping with a large surge in Covid-19 cases after the government decided to do away with its zero-Covid policy. The policy was notorious for its stringent lockdowns, forced institutional quarantine and mass testing. Further, the zero-Covid regime also slowed down the Chinese economy. 

Family members of the German expatriates, if they belong to other nationalities, would not be eligible for the BioNTech shot. Berlin is also pushing for other foreigners, and even Chinese citizens, to be given the BioNTech vaccine.  

So far, China has only allowed its citizens to use domestically made vaccines such as the Sinovac which are not mRNA-based, unlike the vaccines produced by Moderna or Pfizer-BioNTech. Although several Chinese companies are in the process of developing their indigenous mRNA-based coronavirus vaccine, none of them have received the final nod from the state authorities.  

Top medical experts have already predicted that the upcoming Covid wave in China would infect about half of the country’s population and even result in close to a million deaths next year.