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Officials in Beijing with protective clothing
Photo: Andy Wong / dpa
China continues to fight against Corona and, in view of its brutal isolationist policy, is experiencing the largest wave of protests by its population in decades.
Now Germany could offer help in the fight against the virus by sending Biontech vaccines.
The federal government is in contact with Beijing on the question of using the Biontech vaccine, confirmed government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit and a spokesman for the Ministry of Health in Berlin.
At the same time, the protests in China against the government's zero-Covid strategy are being observed very closely, said Hebestreit.
When Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) visited Beijing, it was agreed that the Biontech vaccine could at least be used in China for foreigners living there.
Biontech was initially unable to comment.
The People's Republic has been pursuing a rigid zero-Covid strategy and has been sealing off entire cities since the beginning of the pandemic.
Millions of people are always affected.
But despite the rigorous action against the virus, China is currently being hit by the worst corona wave since the pandemic began almost three years ago.
The Health Commission reported a record high in the country on Monday with around 40,000 new infections.
Now people in the country are protesting against the harsh lockdowns.
The police are brutally cracking down on the protests, and a foreign journalist was also apparently arrested.
»China would have to jump over its shadow«
China urgently needs a broad vaccination campaign, advises health expert Timo Ulrichs.
“First of all, the leadership would have to provide the population with the best vaccines currently available, regardless of ideology,” said Ulrichs, an expert on global health at the Akkon University of Human Sciences in Berlin, the dpa news agency.
However, these are obviously not Chinese vaccines, but adapted mRNA vaccines from Western countries.
»China would have to jump over its shadow.«
After a broad vaccination campaign, which would first have to address risk groups in particular, the strict corona measures could then be gradually eased.
However, this strategy takes many months, similar to the beginning of the vaccination campaigns in Europe.
A radical departure from the current strategy with an immediate end to all measures would be "counterproductive and dangerous," said Ulrichs.
"The virus would hit a population that has almost no immune protection against it." The result would be massive infection, an overburdened health system and many sick and dead people.
mrc/dpa/Reuters