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 Japan and South Korea have passed the United States in terms of
those who have received at least one dose and are fast catching up
with the second.
And Australia, which is targeting high vaccination rates in its
drive to escape lockdowns and re-open borders, has given 56% of
people at least one shot as infections peak.
"That 70% double dose and 80% double dose mark is within plain
sight," Prime Minister Scott Morrison told media on Thursday in the
capital, Canberra. "Keep going, Australia."
While each country's inoculation strategies differ, Asia's momentum
reflects pent-up demand for the shots as a means to ease lockdowns,
said Paul Griffin, an infectious disease expert at the University of
Queensland in northeast Australia.
Australia is giving priority supplies to its largest cities, which
are in lockdown to contain a third wave of infections fuelled by the
Delta variant. It expects to have enough to complete vaccinations of
those older than 12 by mid-October.
Japan has overcome initial logistics hurdles to give
https://www.reuters.com/world/
asia-pacific/japan-city-uses-tsunami-lessons-covid-19-vaccinations-2021-06-11
about a million shots a day since mid-June, as urgency has grown
after Delta unleashed an unprecedented wave of infections and
serious cases in August.
"That obviously accelerated the vaccination motivation, particularly
in young and middle-age groups," said Takahiro Kinoshita, a
physician and official of vaccine information group Cov-Navi.
Japan's vaccination rate reflected a push to "return to a normal way
of life," Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, who will step down this
month after a one-year tenure marred by an unpopular COVID-19
response, said on Thursday.
Vaccine take-up was also boosted by consistent public messaging to
counter health scares that have doomed similar previous drives, said
Fumie Sakamoto, an infection control manager at St. Luke's
International Hospital in Tokyo.
CARROT AND STICK
Still, experts agree that vaccinations will plateau everywhere.
For instance, the United States and Britain, which had raced ahead
to vaccinate millions of people a couple of months ago, are now
seeing stagnating inoculation rates as large swathes of their
populations reject the shots.
[to top of second column] |
 To counter the slowdown and a
groundswell of anti-vaccine sentiment, U.S.
President Joe Biden announced
https://www.reuters.com/legal/
government/how-will-bidens-vaccine-mandate-impact-workers-companies-2021-09-13
new mandates this week.
"I think they don't have that same incentive
that perhaps we do (in Australia), where we
relied on very harsh restrictions to keep people
safe ... and are being told our only ticket to
freedom is to have high levels of vaccination,"
said Griffin.
 China, where more than 70% of the population
have received both doses, said this month that
it was difficult to expand its vaccination drive
but did not say where the roadblocks were.
In wealthy Singapore, the most inoculated nation in Asia with more
than 80% people fully vaccinated, is turning its focus to booster
doses as infections spike.
While there are some holdouts, especially among the elderly and
those worried about side effects from the new mRNA vaccines, people
have a high level of trust in the government, which helps with
compliance.
"If the carrot is we're going to ease restrictions if we get the
vaccination rate high enough, then that will sway some people, it
still won't sway the completely recalcitrant," said infectious
diseases expert Dale Fisher, of the city state's National University
Hospital. Singapore has tied its reopening to
vaccination rate milestones and set limits on unvaccinated people
dining at restaurants.
South Korea, which struggled to get vaccine supplies initially, has
supercharged its campaign, thanks to increased shipments.
It is likely to reach more than 70% of its population with a first
dose before this week, an official said on Thursday.
India, with the world's second-highest tally of infections, has
given 42% of its population of nearly 1.4 billion at least one dose,
after months of production shortages and high demand.
(Reporting by Rocky Swift in Tokyo and Aradhana Aravindan in
Singapore; Additional reporting by John Mair and Hyonhee Shin in
Seoul; Writing by Sayantani Ghosh; Editing by Miyoung Kim and
Clarence Fernandez)
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