vaccines. they are the route out of zero covid. vaccinate the population, then ease restrictions — that's the theory. and according to chinese government health officials, over 1.2 billion people in china have been vaccinated — that's nearly 90% of the population. we also know two of china's vaccines, sinopharm and sinovac have been approved for emergency use by the who, but there's an issue. when it comes to omicron, the reality is that china will be still reliant on its zero covid strategy. neither sinopharm or sinovac do give a high degree of support against the omicron or against the delta strains, of course, which we are still worried about. that's right. there is evidence that china's vaccines are not as effective as western vaccines, like moderna and pfizer. a top chinese official admitted last april that its vaccines don't have very high rates of protection. now, the same official later said he had been misinterpreted. but lynette ong from the university of toronto says this issue is real.