IMF Warns of Risks From China’s Slowing Covid Vaccination Rates

(Bloomberg) — The International Monetary Fund called on China to accelerate its coronavirus vaccination program, warning that the sharply slowing pace of new dose administration could undermine a recovery in consumer spending.

At the current pace, providing three doses of Covid vaccines to the population would take a “matter of years,” Helge Berger, head of the IMF’s China mission, said in an interview. With spending growth yet to recover to pre-pandemic rates, partly because households are cautious about Covid infections, “an acceleration of the vaccination campaign would support confidence and ultimately consumption,” he said.