Xi Zinping's refusal to accept the West's Covid vaccines is ideological madness

It's obviously a matter of national pride, or communist party pride I should say, that President Xi Zinping has refused so far to accept any of the western-developed Covid vaccines. The Chinese leader has done a Trump and has said that he only wants China-developed vaccines. But it's patently obvious that the Chinese vaccines are not as good as the western ones which have been fantastically successful in curbing the pandemic. BUt to admit that would be to lose face, so Xi has stuck to his China-only policy and as a result the pandemic is still raging throughout China and the for-ever president is in trouble with the mounting demonstrations across the country against his harsh lockdown strategy. The restrictions have been lifted a little but I wonder whether this will be enough to stem the tide of anger against his regime. Avril Haines, the US director of national intelligence, spoke out yesterday about the political risk Xi is facing over his Covid policy. She doesn't think this is going to lead to regime-change but there is no question that Xi's tough policy is beng viewed across China as unacceptable and unnecessary. The West is recovering well from the pandemic. Why not China? And why are the Chinese people being refused access to the West's superior vaccines? I can't see Xi buckling over this, he will stick with the Chinese vaccines. But what an important step it would be for West-China relations, let alone for the Chinese people, if Xi were to swallow his national pride and open his arms to western help.