The stringent US safety protocols have shifted the so-called vaccine race in China's favor, where -- for better or worse -- political will holds a much larger sway over state, commercial and individual actions, potentially bending rules or norms as needed.
China's leader Xi Jinping has repeatedly urged the country's scientists to accelerate the research and development of coronavirus vaccines. Chinese drug makers have also been told to treat their work as an "important political task" -- and they are doing everything they can to follow that directive. And while the successful development of a vaccine would not preclude other countries from continuing to pursue their own research, China has placed special emphasis on being first.
