{"id":227329,"date":"2021-01-21T18:28:25","date_gmt":"2021-01-22T02:28:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/?p=227329"},"modified":"2021-01-27T16:37:54","modified_gmt":"2021-01-28T00:37:54","slug":"after-disappointing-sinovac-trial-beijing-snipes-at-western-vaccines","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2021\/01\/after-disappointing-sinovac-trial-beijing-snipes-at-western-vaccines\/","title":{"rendered":"After Disappointing Sinovac Trial, Beijing Snipes at Western Vaccines"},"content":{"rendered":"

A week after stage three trial data from Brazil revealed lower-than-expected efficacy numbers for one of China’s main coronavirus vaccines<\/a>, Beijing’s spokespersons and several reputable Chinese experts have doubled down on a new tactic to promote their vaccine: sniping at competitors. From accusing Western media of covering up deaths associated with the Pfizer vaccine to doubling down on conspiracy theories that the virus came from a U.S. military lab, media and official representatives have been fanning the flames of the kind of “vaccine nationalism<\/a>” it once echoed warnings to avoid. The Washington Post’s Gerry Shih reported on comments from multiple sources casting doubt on vaccines produced in the U.S.<\/strong><\/a>, including several from highly respected Chinese scientists:<\/p>\n

[\u2026] After Chinese officials and researchers spent months telling the public that China\u2019s vaccines would win the global development race, [Yanzhong Huang, a senior fellow for global health at the Council on Foreign Relations] added, \u201cthere\u2019s now a gap between expectation and reality that needed to be addressed, so you see this effort to disparage Western vaccines.\u201d<\/p>\n

[\u2026] The nationalist Global Times newspaper ran stories that seized on the deaths of 23 elderly \u00adNorwegians who had taken the \u00adPfizer-BioNTech vaccine, and quoted Chinese experts who urged countries from Norway to Australia to halt its use.<\/p>\n

[\u2026] George Gao, head of China\u2019s Center for Disease Control and Prevention, recently pondered publicly whether the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines could cause cancer. Zhong Nanshan, who is considered a \u00adnational hero for his work on the SARS and covid-19 outbreaks and sometimes speaks on behalf of the government, dismissed \u00adPfizer-BioNTech\u2019s and Moderna\u2019s clinical trials as \u201cvery insufficient\u201d in November. China\u2019s vaccines, Zhong added, \u201care developed with rigor.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dali Yang, a political science professor at the University of Chicago who researches China\u2019s health system, said that he was surprised a prominent health official like Gao would cast doubt on U.S. vaccines but that it was not clear whether such comments represented a concerted government strategy. Chinese factories, after all, have been contracted to produce millions of doses of \u00adPfizer-BioNTech\u2019s vaccine, and it\u2019s still possible that China could buy the vaccine to inoculate elderly citizens because the Chinese vaccines have not been tested on people over 59, he said. [Source<\/strong><\/a>]<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This week, Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Hua Chunying repeated a conspiracy theory that the coronavirus may have come from a U.S.-military affiliated lab in her January 18 press conference<\/a>. As The Guardian’s Helen Davidson reported, the comments came in response to claims <\/strong><\/a>from the outgoing Trump administration<\/a> of <\/strong>new evidence that the virus was made in a Chinese lab<\/a><\/strong>:<\/p>\n

Hua accused the US of spreading \u201cconspiracy theories and lies\u201d as part of the \u201clast-day madness of Mr Liar\u201d, apparently referring to either Donald Trump or his secretary of state, Mike Pompeo.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d like to stress that if the United States truly respects facts, it should open the biological lab at Fort Detrick, give more transparency to issues like its 200-plus overseas bio-labs, invite WHO experts to conduct origin-tracing in the United States, and respond to the concerns from the international community with real actions,\u201d said Hua.<\/p>\n

On the microblogging platform Weibo, the Chinese hashtag for \u201cbiological laboratory in US Fort Detrick\u201d has been viewed more than 900m times, with comments latching on to the conspiracy theory that the US could be the source.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe origin of coronavirus \u2013 American virus!\u201d said one commenter. Another said: \u201cApologise to the bats!\u201d [Source<\/strong><\/a>]<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Allowing “Fort Detrick” to go viral on Chinese social media suggests the tactic of casting doubt on foreign vaccines has won some degree of approval from Chinese authorities.<\/p>\n

This is not the first time that Beijing has fanned nationalist rhetoric regarding Western vaccines. As early as March 2020, theories alleging that the United States was the true origin<\/a> of the coronavirus were allowed to flourish on Chinese social media. In November, People’s Daily reported in a Facebook post<\/a> that “all available evidence” suggested the coronavirus “did not start in central China’s Wuhan.”<\/p>\n

But Beijing’s challenge is not only to secure the confidence of its domestic population\u2013who have already expressed record high willingness to take a Chinese-made vaccines\u2013but to win the trust of potential overseas recipients of its vaccines as well. A recently published public opinion poll by British market research from YouGov<\/a> measured confidence in vaccines made in different countries. Among respondents polled from 17 different regions, only China and Mexico had a net positive number of people who felt comfortable taking a vaccine made in China. Meanwhile, respondents reported feeling most comfortable receiving vaccines produced in Germany, Canada, or the U.K.<\/p>\n

\n

How much more positively would people around the world feel about a COVID-19 vaccine if they saw it was developed in Britain? (net scores shown)<\/p>\n

\ud83c\uddee\ud83c\uddf3 +49
\ud83c\uddf2\ud83c\uddfd +48
\ud83c\udded\ud83c\uddf0 +43
\ud83c\udde6\ud83c\uddea\ud83c\uddec\ud83c\udde7 +40
\ud83c\udde6\ud83c\uddfa +34
\ud83c\udde9\ud83c\uddf0 +33
\ud83c\uddee\ud83c\udde9 +32
\ud83c\uddea\ud83c\uddf8 +31
\ud83c\uddf8\ud83c\uddec +28
\ud83c\uddf5\ud83c\uddf1 +24
\ud83c\uddf8\ud83c\uddea +21
\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8 +20
\ud83c\uddee\ud83c\uddf9 +17
\ud83c\uddeb\ud83c\uddf7 +7
\ud83c\udde8\ud83c\uddf3\ud83c\udde9\ud83c\uddea +1https:\/\/t.co\/2vdcxVjOli<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/9S1gQntPX5<\/a><\/p>\n

— YouGov (@YouGov) January 15, 2021<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n