Why many Asian countries are cautious about vaccines

Photographer: Chan Long Hei / Bloomberg

The fastest-growing nations to embrace social distancing and contact tracking systems have largely kept Covid-19 under control, but their citizens are now waking up waiting to receive the shots needed to end a pandemic that will eventually end. it has devastated millions of lives.

The governments of Japan and Australia as far as Hong Kong and South Korea are taking their time before granting regulatory approvals for vaccines, in stark contrast to Western nations that have rushed to inoculate populations.

This cautious approach may seem strange given the urgency of resuming normal life, but low infection rates mean Asian governments are able to wait to see unprecedented vaccination developments elsewhere. However, the strategy risks leaving them economically disadvantaged compared to places that prevented confinement but rushed to vaccination.

In New Zealand, which ranks first on Bloomberg Covid Resilience Ranking of the main economies that fought the best against the pandemic, the main opposition party asked Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern to explain why the country “lagged behind the rest of the world with its vaccination program.” In South Korea, an editorial in the Hankyoreh newspaper said “we cannot forever ask people to stop their daily lives and endure economic pain.”

But officials are defending their pace as a safer approach and one they have won. “It’s not a bad thing to sit down for a while and see how others do it,” said Lam Ching-choi, a doctor and executive board member who advises the Hong Kong leader. “I’m very nice where they don’t have the luxury and they have to do it in the fastest way to kill the epidemic.”

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Top 10 countries with the fastest launch of the Covid vaccine

Source: Bloomberg’s Covid-19 Vaccine Tracker starting at 6:00 PM EST on January 13

Hong Kong, currently reporting dozens of Covid-19 cases daily and with a total death toll of 161 since the start of the pandemic, has not yet approved a single vaccine as it awaits more detailed clinical trial data ahead of a vaccination plan. scheduled to begin in February.

Australia, which closed its non-resident border when the pandemic began and imposed strict blockades when cases arise, is expected to approve the vaccine developed by Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE by the end of January and the AstraZeneca Plc vaccine next month, with photos starting in February.

Instead, the United States and the United Kingdom have already done so administered nearly 14 million photos in total after accelerated approvals last month, while Israel administered 2 million doses, or 22 shots per 100 people.

Vaccine anxiety

Asian officials and health experts remain uneasy because it is the first use of this Vaccine mRNA technology, which instructs the human body to produce proteins that then develop protective antibodies. It is also the first global vaccination effort undertaken at such a high rate.

Although millions received shots without incident, there were some allergic reactions, including anaphylactic shock and incidents such as the death of a health worker 16 days after receiving the Pfizer shot, although no connection has been established.

“This extra time will allow those countries to learn from the experience of the countries that started the distribution,” said Adam Taylor, a virologist at Griffith University in Australia. “The more information you have about the distribution process and the safety of vaccines, the more confident you are in your own development. The technology used for Pfizer and Moderna vaccines has never been used in humans and, although safety looks good, the more data the better. ”

Some countries are concerned that pharmaceutical companies have been granted legal immunity in hasty negotiations. South Korean Health Minister Park Neunghoo said countries had been forced to enter into “unfair contracts” with these companies because of the “incomprehensible” nature of the pandemic. Seoul plans to manage fires in February.

More than 32.4 million photos given: Covid-19 Vaccine Tracker

“It is almost universal worldwide that extended immunity from liability is required,” Park said in a recent news briefing, noting that Korean officials need time to look closely at safety data because companies do not they will take responsibility for any accident. “We don’t need to rush to vaccinate people before we identify the risks.”

Herd immunity

Such explanations may not suit the citizens of Asian economies who were hit by the virus before the West and therefore spent almost a whole year wearing masks, staying home and following strict rules of social distance.

“Everyone is trying to survive and I think they should get the vaccines as soon as possible for people who feel comfortable taking them,” said Aron Harilela, president of Harilela Hotels Ltd. and former president of the Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce. Kong. “You can continue to worry about making the wrong decision, but the whole world is getting vaccines, because all the savings will be on our knees if we don’t open up.”

In New Zealand – which closed its border early and wiped out the virus – opposition has been critical of the country’s slow vaccination schedule, citing a global resurgence of the virus and the emergence of more transmissible variants. The launch of New Zealand is scheduled to begin in the second half of 2021.

Deputy Prime Minister Grant Robertson denied that the country is just “politically ”and said that other countries with high death rates have priority. “We’re doing everything we can to get the vaccines here as soon as possible,” Robertson told NewstalkZB this week.

Defective launch

Another reason to proceed more slowly than desperate Western nations is that they do not want a faulty launch to undermine public confidence in vaccines, which could jeopardize the ability to inoculate a sufficient percentage of the population for herd immunity.