08/31/2026
???Did you know China didn’t use the mRNA shot for Covid????
China’s mass COVID-19 vaccination campaign relied on inactivated (“killed” or “dead”) whole-virus vaccines, not mRNA. 
The two main shots given to the public were:
• Sinopharm BBIBP-CorV (Beijing Institute of Biological Products)
• Sinovac CoronaVac
Both grow SARS-CoV-2 in cells, then chemically inactivate it (usually with beta-propiolactone) so it cannot replicate. The intact viral proteins still trigger an immune response. A third inactivated shot from Sinopharm’s Wuhan institute was also used. These accounted for the large majority of doses in mainland China. 
China also approved an adenovirus-vector vaccine (CanSino Ad5-nCoV) and protein-subunit vaccines, but those were far less common than the inactivated ones.
China did not authorize Pfizer/BioNTech or Moderna mRNA vaccines for general use in mainland China. Foreign mRNA shots were kept out; a domestic mRNA candidate (CSPC SYS6006) only received emergency-use approval in March 2023, after the main rollout and after zero-COVID restrictions ended. 
Inactivated vaccines are an older, well-established platform (similar to some polio and hepatitis A shots). They require two primary doses plus boosters and showed lower efficacy against infection than mRNA vaccines, especially against later Omicron variants, though they still reduced severe disease and death in many studies.
