Covid-19 vaccine rush in China raises fears of booming black market

Inevitable supply shortages fueling concerns about inequitable distribution and even the emergence of illegal markets

Before a planned trip to the U.S., Cheng wanted to get vaccinated against Covid-19. To do so, he asked a friend working at a cold-chain logistics company in southeast China to pretend he was employed by the firm, allowing Cheng access to one of the country’s experimental shots.
 

Cheng, a business-owner from Beijing, now plans to fly to Guangdong province and pay as much as $91 to take two doses of what he believes is a vaccine being produced by a unit of Sinopharm, the state-backed Chinese developer at the front of the global Covid-19 vaccine race.

“You just transfer