Slow to start, China mobilizes to vaccinate at headlong pace

After a slow start, China is now doing what virtually no other country in the world can: harnessing the power and all-encompassing reach of its one-party system and a maturing domestic vaccine industry to administer shots at a staggering pace.

The rollout is far from perfect, including uneven distribution, but Chinese public health leaders still hope to inoculate 80% of the population of 1.4 billion by the end of the year.

As of Tuesday, China had given out more than 680 million doses. That’s roughly a third of the 1.9 billion shots distributed globally.

The call to get vaccinated comes from every corner of society, underscoring both the system’s strength and the risks to civil liberties.