After sitting on the sidelines as the U.S. and Europe plowed headlong into vaccinating against COVID-19, the parts of the world that contained the novel coronavirus most successfully are now starting to administer shots.
Japan kicked off its vaccination drive last week using the shot made by Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE. Hong Kong began its program on Monday, with Chief Executive Carrie Lam getting inoculated with Beijing-based Sinovac Biotech Ltd.’s product. Australia and New Zealand have also started vaccinating priority groups with shots from Pfizer-BioNTech and AstraZeneca PLC. Malaysia kicked off its drive Wednesday, South Korea is due to begin Friday and Thailand is preparing to start for a few days later.
The region’s economic powerhouses and developing nations now seem to be jumping in one after another, after watching for months as desperate Western nations snatched up supply. With the virus mostly contained throughout much of Asia, governments have had the luxury of waiting to see how safely and effectively these rapidly developed vaccines can blunt disease in other countries before injecting them into their own citizens.