Japan plans to donate 1.3 million AstraZeneca doses to several Asian countries, 300,000 heading to Thailand

Japan is planning to donate 1.3 million AstraZeneca vaccines to several Asian countries, including 300,000 doses to Thailand.

The newest donation from Japan should go out as soon as possible and includes 400,000 doses for Vietnam, 300,000 for Thailand, and 100,00 doses for Brunei. With 500,000 doses heading to Taiwan, Japan’s total donation to the island will be just shy of 4 million doses, says Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi.

Currently, Japan has donated over 23 million doses of locally produced AstraZeneca. The vaccines have been dispersed throughout Southeast Asia and the Pacific Islands, says Toshimitsu. Japan has also pledged US $1 billion dollars and 30 million doses to the Covax programme, which is overseen by the GAVI Alliance and the World Health Organization.

Japan has already fully vaccinated half of their population, says government data. Domestically, they have mostly used imported mRNA vaccines such as Pfizer and Moderna. They have opted to donate away most of their supplies of AstraZeneca. In late August, Japan decided not to use 1.63 million doses of Moderna after reports of contamination in multiple vials came out.

SOURCE: Bangkok Post

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