Author: Yanzhong Huang
Affiliation: Senior Fellow for Global Health at the Council on Foreign Relations, and Director of Seton Hall University’s Center for Global Health Studies (South Orange, New Jersey, USA)
Organization/Publisher: Foreign Affairs
Date/Place: January 26, 2022/USA
Type of Literature: Article
Word Count: 2526
Link: https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/china/2022-01-26/chinas-immunity-gap
Keywords: Coronavirus, China, Winter Olympics, and Immunity
Brief:
The writer talks about the severe measures taken by China to address the Coronavirus, which brought some positive results. According to the chief epidemiologist at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Wu Zunyou, at that time, the strategy protected hundreds of millions from infection of the virus and death. China has worked hard to control the virus to hold the Winter Olympics in Beijing. However, despite all the policies that China has followed to control the situation, the virus got out of control two months before the Winter Olympics, when nearly 2,000 cases of the virus were recorded throughout the country. The closure policies and restrictions imposed in many cities are facing opposition. The issue in China has taken a political turn: if China changes its policies, it will appear as an admission that its political system is no better than Western liberal democracies in protecting people’s health. Because the changes taking place would affect the immunity of the Chinese, the writer believes that the Chinese government must change its policy in the face of the Coronavirus, as it is an existential threat that cannot be confronted.
The spread of the Coronavirus represents the most significant challenge the world has faced in decades. Still, China has made outstanding strategic achievements in its response to the outbreak, through the policy that it followed to control the virus. Despite the challenges to be faced from the economic consequences of the virus, it is something that many European countries have not been able to achieve; additionally, the United States of America has recorded the highest rates of infection with the virus. Until now, it cannot be certain whether the Chinese policy will eliminate the virus permanently, but by making sure it has greatly limited its spread it may be the most controlled country spread of the virus.
By: Taqwa Abukmeil, CIGA Research Assistant
