[tempestn]

Does anyone understand why China is willing to implement these extremely draconian lockdown measures, but not to mandate vaccination? As I understand it the main reason why the virus is still so dangerous there is due to the low vaccination rate among the elderly population. I'm not saying I personally support forced vaccination, but I'm surprised that the CCP doesn't, given they're willing to forcibly detain people who test positive.

[jorblumesea]

Home made vaccine isn't as effective against variants as thought, so mandatory vaccinations would expose its ineffectiveness. Importing Western made mrna vax (Moderna, Pfizer) runs contrary to years of CCP propaganda where China has outsmarted capitalist Western ideas. China's response has been nationalist in nature, a "China strong, rally around the CCP" world where they painted themselves as the only ones in the world who had it figured out.

Xi is also up for a historic 3rd term after removing most of the checks on his power. The thrust of his campaign has been give more power to Xi, because authoritarianism solves your problems.

Anything that runs contrary to these narratives is not going to happen, even if it benefits the nation.

[hollerith]

Peter Zeihan says that they never secured a supply of mRNA vaccine. Instead, (partly because of national pride) they created their own non-mRNA vaccine, which does not work as well.

[MagnumOpus]

I don't know who Peter Zeihan is or what authority he claims, but you probably should stop listening to him if he spouts idiocy like this.

The BioNTech vaccince - an mRNA vaccine - has been produced and shipped not just by Pfizer in the US but also by Fosun Shanghai, since all the way back in December 2020. If you know anyone in HK for instance, chances are high that they were vaccinated with Fosun mRNA vaccine. This is not a secret or anything...

[kenneth]

For all intents and purposes, HK is not China. BioNTech shots were only available in HK, and not in mainland China, and data from HK's recent outbreak shows very clearly the Sinovac vaccine is an order of magnitude less effective than the BioNTech vaccine, at best.