China’s hope for homegrown mRNA vaccine holds back nation

China has not been using the kind of COVID-19 vaccine that has proven to offer the best protection against the virus. The country is working through its biggest coronavirus outbreak yet without a tool it could have started using many months ago. As early as the spring of 2020, the Chinese pharmaceutical company Fosun Pharma reached an agreement to distribute and later manufacture the mRNA vaccine made by Pfizer and BioNTech. The vaccine still has not been approved for use in mainland China. Health experts say that delay could lead to avoidable coronavirus deaths and deeper economic losses. Critics say China has had a policy of putting politics and national pride above public health. Studies have shown that mRNA vaccines made by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna offer the best protection against hospitalization and death from COVID-19. Chinese vaccines made with older technology proved effective against the early strain of the virus. But the vaccine...