China’s vaccine not ‘effective’ against Omicron, Xi still not allowing better foreign ones: US
China covid protests
United States officials on Saturday said that even thoughChina is facing challenges and public anger that is translating into protests against restrictions, the nation's leader Xi Jinping is still unwilling to accept Western vaccines.
In China, a near all-time high number of daily COVID-19 cases have triggered massive protests, with people pouring into streets protesting the nation's strict restrictions under the Zero-Covid policy.
Also read |China Covid: Covid-19 curbs eased further; no longer mandatory negative tests in Shenzhen, Beijing
However, despite the social and economic impact of the virus, Xi "is unwilling to take a better vaccine from the West, and is instead relying on a vaccine made in China that's just not nearly as effective against Omicron," said US Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines.
"Seeing protests and the response to it is countering the narrative that he likes to put forward, which is that China is so much more effective at government," Haines said.
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Also read|As China loosens some Covid curbs, Guangzhou official says virus now ‘less virulent than flu’
It's nothing that we now consider to pose a threat to stability or to a regime transition, she continued, adding that its course will be crucial to "Xi's standing".
According to experts, lowering virus preventive measures could have significant risks.
Even though China's domestically produced COVID vaccinesmay not be as effective as some foreign ones, the nation has chosen not to approve any overseas coronavirus vaccines in favour of those made there.
The White House said earlier this week that China had not requested vaccines from the US, and one official told Reuters that there was "no expectation at present" that the country would allow western vaccines.
"It seems fairly far-fetched that China would greenlight Western vaccines at this point. It's a matter of national pride, and they'd have to swallow quite a bit of it if they went this route," said the official.
(With inputs from agencies)
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