Virus disruptions linger but vaccines deliver

This week’s lockdown of Shijiazhuang, a city of 11 million, is a reminder that sporadic flare-ups of COVID-19 are still imposing an economic cost on China. Domestic passenger travel in particular remains depressed. Vaccines hold the key to a full return to normality and so it’s encouraging that the phase 3 trial results announced in recent days suggest that China’s two main vaccine candidates are highly effective. We expect the rollout to be rapid, with much of the population inoculated by year-end.