Sibling commenter says money, but I fear it's more to do with ego, admitting the Made in China vaccines are ineffective against Omicron and having to import Western-made vaccines would mean a loss of face for the government. It's sad how a lot of China's actions are rooted in their feeling of insecurity.

But my instincts tell me some higher ups in government probably have taken a Western vaccine because they know they're effective against Omicron, they just can't admit that publicly.

On the topic of "research", I wonder why they haven't just "pirated" one of the mRNA vaccines and claimed it a Chinese invention.