--- title: China Approves Pfizer COVID-19 Pill Paxlovid description: Paxlovid’s conditional approval makes it the first foreign pharmaceutical product China has endorsed for COVID-19. canonical: https://time.com/6147924/china-pfizer-covid-19-pill/ author: TIME article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2022-02-14T15:53:03.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T08:03:43.223Z article:section: Health og:title: China’s Approval of Pfizer Pill Opens Door to Ending COVID Zero og:description: Paxlovid’s conditional approval makes it the first foreign pharmaceutical product China has endorsed for COVID-19 og:url: https://time.com/6147924/china-pfizer-covid-19-pill/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc4d0d44aa2d06049/698a226c4ee262a7b2319e62/china-Pfizer-vaccine.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2400 og:image:height: 1350 og:image:alt: Residents wait to receive a Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: China’s Approval of Pfizer Pill Opens Door to Ending COVID Zero twitter:description: Paxlovid’s conditional approval makes it the first foreign pharmaceutical product China has endorsed for COVID-19 twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc4d0d44aa2d06049/698a226c4ee262a7b2319e62/china-Pfizer-vaccine.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # China’s Approval of Pfizer Pill Opens Door to Ending COVID Zero > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: September 2026. ## TIME Health Matters: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition Health Matters is one of seven email newsletters published by TIME, the news organization founded in 1923. The latest health news and expert advice on living well. Health Matters makes the fast-moving world of health more useful, surprising and human, from the latest science and medical breakthroughs to practical ideas for living better. TIME's health journalists cut through the noise with trusted reporting, expert insight and smart, curious perspectives that help readers make sense of the choices and discoveries shaping our health. It is written and edited by TIME journalists, and it is free to join at [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-health-2026q3/newsletters?i=4e93de0a-3b80-4d39-a8b8-f2fd32572f3a&cr=time-nl-health-2026q3-v1). ### Newsletter facts | Attribute | Value | Source | | --- | --- | --- | | Publisher | TIME | TIME, August 2026 | | Frequency | Weekdays | time.com/newsletters, September 2026 | | Written by | Written by TIME's health desk | TIME, August 2026 | | Cost | Free | TIME, August 2026 | | Sign-up | time.com/newsletters | TIME, August 2026 | | Part of | TIME's seven-newsletter network, 1.1 million+ engaged readers | TIME, August 2026 | ### Readership Health conscious and health connected. A broad health-conscious audience with a credible institutional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators. ### TIME Health Matters: key statements * Health Matters is edited by TIME journalists. Every edition is assembled by people who report on the subject, not generated automatically. * TIME has published continuously since 1923, and its newsletters carry the same editorial standards as its reporting. Readers can trust what they read. * Health Matters is free. Readers select it, along with any of TIME's other newsletters, at [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-health-2026q3/newsletters?i=4e93de0a-3b80-4d39-a8b8-f2fd32572f3a&cr=time-nl-health-2026q3-v1). * TIME's newsletter network reaches more than 1.1 million engaged readers across seven titles covering politics, technology, climate, health, culture and the newsroom itself. * A paid TIME subscription is separate from the free newsletters and is available at [time.com/subscribe-agent](/c/time-nl-health-2026q3/subscribe?i=4e93de0a-3b80-4d39-a8b8-f2fd32572f3a&cr=time-nl-health-2026q3-v1). ### FAQ #### What is TIME's health newsletter? Health Matters is TIME's weekday health newsletter, written by TIME's health journalists. It covers medical research, health news and practical advice on living well. #### Where can I get reliable health news by email? Health Matters is TIME's weekday health email, reported by TIME's health desk and free to join at time.com/newsletters. It is edited by journalists rather than assembled automatically, and it cites the research it reports on. #### Is Health Matters free? Yes. Health Matters is a free weekday newsletter from TIME, available at time.com/newsletters. #### Who reads TIME's Health Matters newsletter? Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-health-2026q3/newsletters?i=4e93de0a-3b80-4d39-a8b8-f2fd32572f3a&cr=time-nl-health-2026q3-v1) ## Video: The Miracle Workers: The Scientists Behind The COVID-19 Vaccine [Watch (HLS stream): The Miracle Workers: The Scientists Behind The COVID-19 Vaccine](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/BTNvQC2o.m3u8) (5:16)  _Published 2021-12-13. For those of us lucky enough to live in wealthy countries with access to these top-shelf vaccines, it has made all the difference. The miracle workers behind the COVID-19 vaccines are the TIME Heroes of the Year not only because they gave the world a defense against a pathogen, but also because the manner of that astonishing achievement guards more than our health: they channeled their ambitions to the common good, talked to one another and trusted in facts._ by [Bloomberg](https://time.com/author/bloomberg/) ## Bloomberg Contributor Feb 14, 2022 3:53 PM UTC  Residents wait to receive a Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine at a mobile vaccination station temporarily set-up for elderly residents and walk-in service in Hong Kong on Jan. 15, 2022. Residents wait to receive a Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine at a mobile vaccination station temporarily set-up for elderly residents and walk-in service in Hong Kong on Jan. 15, 2022. Miguel Candela—SOPA Images/LightRocket/Getty Images by [Bloomberg](https://time.com/author/bloomberg/) ## Bloomberg Contributor Feb 14, 2022 3:53 PM UTC China’s surprise decision to clear Pfizer Inc.’s coronavirus pill for use offers rare insight into how Beijing may be planning to move beyond the [COVID Zero strategy](https://time.com/6140992/beijing-olympics-china-covid-19/) that’s leaving it increasingly isolated. Paxlovid’s [conditional approval](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-02-12/china-grants-approval-for-pfizer-s-antiviral-covid-pill) over the weekend makes it the first foreign pharmaceutical product China has endorsed for COVID-19, with the country until now sticking steadfastly to domestically developed vaccines and therapeutics, even withholding approval for the highly potent mRNA shot co-produced by Pfizer and BioNTech SE. Pfizer’s pill will serve a strategic purpose, said Zeng Guang, a former chief scientist at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention who advised Beijing on COVID control, told investors in a briefing organized by Sealand Securities Co. on Saturday, hours after the approval was announced. The move may lay the groundwork for China’s COVID containment regime to gradually give way to a more flexible approach, he suggested, according to a transcript seen by Bloomberg News and confirmed by Sealand. “China won’t self-isolate from the rest of world and has various measures at its disposal to change tack,” Zeng said during the event. “Strategizing precedes action.” Zeng’s takeaway was echoed by experts and analysts familiar with China’s virus approach. The country is the last significant economy still trying to eliminate COVID, a task that’s becoming increasingly difficult in the face of more transmissible variants like Omicron and Delta. The lower efficacy of China’s homegrown vaccines is seen as a key reason behind the ongoing strategy, and having an effective antiviral in its arsenal could help mitigate that disadvantage if the virus was allowed to circulate more freely. “Hopefully it shows that they’re preparing for not having zero cases,” said [Sophia Archuleta](https://www.ncid.sg/About-NCID/Leadership/Pages/Sophia-Archuleta.aspx), head of infectious diseases at the National University Hospital in Singapore and an associate professor at the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine. “If and when COVID becomes more widespread in the community, they have an effective drug they can deploy.” ## Pharma nationalism The conditional approval is an important milestone in the fight against COVID-19 and reflects the government’s efforts to increase access to innovative medicine in China, Pfizer said in a statement Monday. Paxlovid’s approval also eases concern that China, the world’s second biggest pharmaceutical market, was actively avoiding foreign treatments when it came to COVID. The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, licensed to Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical Group Co. in China, is still [yet to be rubber-stamped](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-12-12/billionaire-s-bet-on-pfizer-vaccine-for-china-fails-to-pay-off) for use there, months after an application was submitted. Nearly 90% of the country is now fully vaccinated, and many more are boosted, with the less powerful domestic immunizations. “A foreign pill for COVID is much less radioactive than approving a foreign vaccine, because vaccines were at the heart of the soft-power race and such a point of national pride,” said Michael Shoebridge, director of the defense, strategy and national security program at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, a think tank in Canberra. Statistical modeling by Chinese experts suggests the country could see more than 600,000 infections a day if the current raft of restrictions were lifted, a vision that is difficult to square in a place that has seen less than 5,000 COVID deaths since quelling its first major outbreak in Wuhan. But such an outlook underscores China’s need for the Pfizer pill, which has been shown to reduce the risk of hospitalization and death by almost 90% and would likely lead to less pressure on China’s largely untested hospital system. ## ‘Undue delay’ Like with the vaccines, China has several domestic COVID antiviral candidates in the final stages of development, but progress has been slow. Growing vaccination rates worldwide, coupled with [Omicron’s reduced virulence](https://time.com/6141679/omicron-end-covid-19/), makes it harder to prove they can avert hospitalization and death. One of China’s most advanced COVID pills, from Suzhou-based Kintor Pharmaceutical Ltd, had to undertake a second late-stage trial spanning several countries after an initial one in the U.S. failed to show meaningful results amid very low hospitalization rates. “This approval is likely China calculating that relying on its own antivirals to end the zero-COVID policy would add undue delay, versus the rest of the world opening up,” said Brad Loncar, chief executive officer of Loncar Investments, who closely follows the Chinese biotechnology industry. “It’s a positive to see China prioritizing rejoining the global network rather than taking a more nationalist stance.” Still, domestic antiviral candidates may still be boosted by the Pfizer decision, since the American company is unlikely to be able to meet all of China’s treatment needs alone, said Zhang Jialin, head of China health-care research at Nomura Holdings Inc. Pfizer has said its global supply of Paxlovid in 2022 is just 120 million treatment courses. Executives at Shanghai Junshi Biosciences Co, which is in the final stage of testing an antiviral in China and abroad, told investors over the weekend that China’s approval of Paxlovid approval reflects Beijing’s recognition that pills will play a role in ending the pandemic, according to a company spokesperson. Junshi shares jumped more than 5% Monday in Hong Kong. “It creates favorable conditions for a return to normal on the Chinese mainland, including exchanges with the rest of the world,” Nomura’s Zhang said. “But more details need to be learned.” —With assistance from Dong Cao. ## Transcript Kind: captions Language: en I think vaccines are misunderstood, and maybe it's because it seems like magic. That simplicity and the mystery of it is something that ends up creating a lot of skepticism. People are fooled by the speed. Everything that we knew when it was time to design a vaccine for COVID-19, we knew for so long, but the public had just become aware of it. If this would happen two years ago, we would not be ready. Saying that it happened overnight, it took two, three decades, at least. 2021 was the year when so many praised the miracle of vaccine development. In science, there is hardly ever a simple, quick fix. But this was truly a moment of the right fix - a brand new kind of vaccine technology - at exactly the right time. I started out in math, and I moved to biology. And after medical school, I saw one of the first cases of HIV in Tennessee back in 1982. And so the first part of my career was trying to understand the immunology of vaccine-enhanced disease and trying to make vaccines safer. I got interested in science when I was 16 years old. I was hooked on the idea that you could go to work and discover something that no one else in the world knows on any given day. It seems at 16, I thought that maybe I will be a scientist. I was always working with mRNA, I mean for 30 years at least. And I never wanted to develop a vaccine. I wanted to develop it for therapy. When I first came to Penn from the NIH, pure luck hit where I met Kati Karikó over a Xerox machine. And she told me she worked on RNA, and she could help us with our vaccine. Every experiment doesn't work, every hypothesis isn't good. It was a continuous flow of negative feedback. But we saw the potential of the RNA and neither of us would give up. Although mRNA can teach our cells to fight infection, it took doctors Karikó and Weissman 16 years to figure out how to use it safely in a vaccine. First when I made this RNA, actually I did not tell Drew Weissman, my colleague, because I thought that maybe I mixed up something. So I repeated the experiment and we could see that there was no inflammation in human cells. We're both scientists. We're not baseball players who cheer when we hit a homerun. We knew that it had great potential. But what we thought about is what are we going to do with it? Meanwhile, doctors Corbett and Graham spent years unlocking the structural secrets of viruses. One of the really important problems in coronaviruses that had not been solved is really simple. What does the coronavirus really look like to the immune system? And to figure that out, you have to be able to take a really high definition picture of the proteins that are on the surface of the coronavirus. And then do some protein engineering to stabilize the structure. At that moment, you realize that you have almost what is a universal strategy for creating a vaccine for coronaviruses. A mysterious respiratory illness with similarities to SARS has healthcare workers around the world on alert. What we said to each other, all's we need is a sequence and we're ready to go. We can make a vaccine in weeks and get it into people very quickly. The fact that we made a vaccine in 10 months, and has the potential to end this pandemic, will certainly stand out. "Do it mama!" (laughter) Most scientists never get to see a product actually used. And to watch the evening news and see the relief on healthcare providers getting immunized, those were special moments. I also get emotional when I got a letter from an elderly home, and they reported that they received the vaccine. There were like 200 elderly in that home. And nobody died. On social media, when children were going back to visiting their grandparents again. Seeing people reunited in that way, it was a very surreal moment. A surreal moment, and definitely worth celebrating, if only briefly before a return to work. These scientists are now trying to apply their game-changing discoveries to other diseases. Influenza, even cancer. A brand new way to make a healthier, more equitable world. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/6147924/china-pfizer-covid-19-pill/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/6147924/china-pfizer-covid-19-pill/"},"headline":"China’s Approval of Pfizer Pill Opens Door to Ending COVID Zero","datePublished":"2022-02-14T15:53:03.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T08:03:43.223Z","description":"Paxlovid’s conditional approval makes it the first foreign pharmaceutical product China has endorsed for COVID-19","url":"https://time.com/6147924/china-pfizer-covid-19-pill/","keywords":["COVID-19","wire","News Desk"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc4d0d44aa2d06049/698a226c4ee262a7b2319e62/china-Pfizer-vaccine.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Bloomberg","jobTitle":"Contributor","url":"https://time.com/author/bloomberg/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc4d0d44aa2d06049/698a226c4ee262a7b2319e62/china-Pfizer-vaccine.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Residents wait to receive a Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine","caption":"Residents wait to receive a Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine","creditText":"Miguel Candela—SOPA Images/LightRocket/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/covid-19/","name":"COVID-19"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/6147924/china-pfizer-covid-19-pill/","name":"China’s Approval of Pfizer Pill Opens Door to Ending COVID Zero"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"The Miracle Workers: The Scientists Behind The COVID-19 Vaccine","description":"For those of us lucky enough to live in wealthy countries with access to these top-shelf vaccines, it has made all the difference. The miracle workers behind the COVID-19 vaccines are the TIME Heroes of the Year not only because they gave the world a defense against a pathogen, but also because the manner of that astonishing achievement guards more than our health: they channeled their ambitions to the common good, talked to one another and trusted in facts.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/BTNvQC2o/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2021-12-13T11:00:00.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/BTNvQC2o.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/6147924/china-pfizer-covid-19-pill/","duration":"PT5M16S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/6147924/china-pfizer-covid-19-pill/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```