Xi Jinping warns public against criticising country's zero-COVID policy

This is the first time that the Chinese president has made an “important speech” that contained public remarks regarding the country’s fight against COVID-19.

Saloni Dhumne

May 07, 2022 / 15:02 IST

Chinese President Xi Jinping

Chinese President Xi Jinping on May 7 issued a firm warning against the population who questioned and criticised the zero-COVID policy implemented in the country.

The move was deemed necessary because right after the outbreak, Shanghai residents took to social media to plead for help. Many people used social media platforms to vent anger against the government due to a lack of food and healthcare. This has been continuing for the past five weeks, according to a CNN report.

Supreme Politburo Standing Committee from the ruling communist party vowed to “unswervingly adhere to the general policy of ‘dynamic zero-COVID,” at a meeting held by Jinping. They also agreed to fight against any verbal protests that go against, question, or even deny the country’s policies on the prevention of the disease.

According to the state media, this is the first time that the Chinese president has made an “important speech” that contained public remarks regarding the country’s fight against COVID-19 since the public protests over the Shanghai lockdown took place.

As per government news agency Xinhua, the seven-member committee stated, “Our prevention and control strategy is determined by the party’s nature and mission, our policies can stand the test of history, our measures are scientific and effective.”

COVID-19 Vaccine

Frequently Asked Questions

How does a vaccine work?

A vaccine works by mimicking a natural infection. A vaccine not only induces immune response to protect people from any future COVID-19 infection, but also helps quickly build herd immunity to put an end to the pandemic. Herd immunity occurs when a sufficient percentage of a population becomes immune to a disease, making the spread of disease from person to person unlikely. The good news is that SARS-CoV-2 virus has been fairly stable, which increases the viability of a vaccine.

How many types of vaccines are there?

There are broadly four types of vaccine — one, a vaccine based on the whole virus (this could be either inactivated, or an attenuated [weakened] virus vaccine); two, a non-replicating viral vector vaccine that uses a benign virus as vector that carries the antigen of SARS-CoV; three, nucleic-acid vaccines that have genetic material like DNA and RNA of antigens like spike protein given to a person, helping human cells decode genetic material and produce the vaccine; and four, protein subunit vaccine wherein the recombinant proteins of SARS-COV-2 along with an adjuvant (booster) is given as a vaccine.

What does it take to develop a vaccine of this kind?

Vaccine development is a long, complex process. Unlike drugs that are given to people with a diseased, vaccines are given to healthy people and also vulnerable sections such as children, pregnant women and the elderly. So rigorous tests are compulsory. History says that the fastest time it took to develop a vaccine is five years, but it usually takes double or sometimes triple that time.

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