Why are so many Asian countries wary of vaccines?

Photographer: Chan Long Hei / Bloomberg

The fastest-growing nations in adopting social distances and contact tracking systems have mostly kept Covid-19 under control, but its citizens are now lagging behind in receiving the shots needed to end a pandemic that has devastated millions of lives.

The governments of Japan and Australia in Hong Kong and South Korea are devoting their time before granting regulatory approvals for vaccines, in contrast to Western nations that have been quick to inoculate populations.

This prudent approach may seem strange given the urgency of resuming normal life, but low infection rates make Asian governments look forward to seeing unprecedented vaccination actions unfold elsewhere. However, the strategy runs the risk of leaving them financially disadvantaged in the face of sites that contain containment problems but rush to vaccination.

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

But officials are defending their pace as a safer and winning approach. “It’s not bad to rest a bit and see how others go,” said Lam Ching-choi, a doctor and member of the Executive Council advising the Hong Kong leader. “I’m totally sympathetic where they don’t have the luxury and need to do it the fastest way to kill the epidemic.”

Front Runners

The top ten countries with the fastest Covid vaccine launch

Source: Bloomberg’s Covid-19 Vaccine Tracker from 6 pm EST on January 13th

Hong Kong, which currently reports a few dozen cases of Covid-19 daily and has a total of 161 deaths since the pandemic began, has not yet approved a single vaccine, as it expects more detailed data from clinical trials before of a vaccination plan scheduled to begin in February.

Australia, which closed the border for non-residents when the pandemic began and imposed strict blockades when cases arise, hopes to approve the vaccine developed by Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE in late January and the AstraZeneca Plc vaccine next month, with shots also starting in February.

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

Vaccine anxiety

Asian officials and health experts remain anxious because it is the first use of this particular MRNA technology for vaccines, which instructs the human body to produce proteins that then develop protective antibodies. It is also the world’s first vaccination effort at such a high rate.

Although millions have been stabbed without incident, there have been some allergic reactions, such as anaphylactic shock and incidents such as death of a health worker 16 days after receiving the shot from Pfizer, although no link has been established.

“This extra time will allow these countries to learn from the experience of countries that have begun to distribute,” said Adam Taylor, a virologist at Griffith University in Australia. “The more information you have about the vaccine distribution process and safety, the more confidence you have in your own deployment. The technology used for the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines had never been used before in humans and, while 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 have been forced to “make unfair contracts” with these companies because of the “incomprehensible” nature of the pandemic. Seoul plans to administer shootings in February.

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“It is almost universal around the world that extensive immunity from corporate liability is being demanded,” Park said at a recent news conference, noting that Korean officials need time to look closely at the data. security, as companies will not be held responsible for any setbacks. “It’s not so necessary to rush to vaccinate populations before identifying risks.”

Immunity of the herd

These explanations may not match well with the citizenship of Asian economies that were affected by the virus before the West and have therefore spent almost a full year in masks, staying at home and respecting strict rules of social distancing.

“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 chairman of the Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce. “You may continue to worry that you’re making the wrong decision, but everyone is getting vaccinated, because all economies will be on their knees if we don’t open up.”

In New Zealand, which soon closed the border and eliminated the virus, the 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 being “educated ”, and said that other countries with an increase in the number of deaths have priority. “We’re doing everything we can to get the vaccines here as soon as we can,” Robertson told NewstalkZB this week.

Wrong launch

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