>USA's manufacturing prowess is still there btw. It took advanced computers, chemicals, and life-sciences to develop the COVID19 vaccines (and the updates to said vaccines) so quickly. China has seemingly been unable to replicate the feat.
That's not manufacturing so much as R&D. China isn't so great in that department, but they're great at pumping out manufactured goods with slightly behind-cutting-edge technologies at huge volumes. If China had access to all the R&D behind the mRNA vaccines, they could probably manufacture them too.
My understanding is that mRNA vaccines require advanced biotechnology, wherein the simulated mRNA is converted into DNA in a lab (DNA which can then create mRNA later), a bunch of magic goop gets added (activating the DNA to start producing the mRNA)... and then chemicals are used to isolate the vaccine (aka: mRNA) out of the goop.
Consistently, and safely, doing this to the scale of hundreds-of-millions of doses or even billions-of-doses is obviously a big manufacturing feat.
Right. So if the US gives China all the know-how for doing that manufacturing process, they'll be able to do it just fine, just like they've done for so many other manufacturing technologies the US happily and willingly exported to China.
That's not manufacturing so much as R&D. China isn't so great in that department, but they're great at pumping out manufactured goods with slightly behind-cutting-edge technologies at huge volumes. If China had access to all the R&D behind the mRNA vaccines, they could probably manufacture them too.