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After getting off to a slow start when it was launched in January, China’s vaccination campaign has picked up pace, hitting 1 billion total doses administered Saturday, according to the National Health Commission. It is well on track to meet its goal of vaccinating 40 percent of its 1.4 billion people by the end of June.
With the wind at its back, Beijing has wasted no time in championing its authoritarian approach as a model for others to follow. But new questions about the efficacy of Chinese vaccines and a recent outbreak in the southern province of Guangdong are casting fresh doubts on China’s COVID success story.